ARCHAEOlOGICAl INVESTIGATIONS tN

THE MAURICE RIVER TJOfWATfR AREA

NEW JE~SEY

CENTRE FOR NEWFOUNDLAND STUDIES

TOTAl OF 10 PAGES ONlY MAY BE XEROXED

(Without Author's Permission)

R ALAN MOUNIER

e '

354713

FEB 251971

ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN

TiiE MA URICE RIVER TIDEWATER AREA

NEW JERSEY

by

~ R, ALAN MOUNIBR

A.B., Syracuse University, 1968

A Thesis

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the Degree of

MASTER OF ARTS IN ANTHROPOLOGY

Memorial Universi t y of Newfoundland

December 1972

Approved ---------

Date -----------

COPY NUMBER

ABSTRACT

This thesis concerns a prehistoric cultural sequence

in the Maurice River tidewater area, New Jersey, as revealed

by recent archaeological excavations on three small sites,

coupled with data from previGusly investigated sites and sur­

face collections. Excavation vas restricted to single, closed

components and distinctly stratified sites so that discrete,

culturally significant assemblages, could be isolated and de­

fined. Data relating to subsistence patterns and ecological

adaptation were collected where possible. The composite

sequence was ordered within a chronological framework which

was established by relative and absolute dating techniques.

This study documents the lengthy and more or less con­

tinuous occupation of the lower Maurice River area beginning

no later than Late Archaic t imes and terminating in the his­

toric era. Our investigations demonstrate the presence of

several late Archaic Susquehanna tradition phases, the earli­

est of which was dated by means of radiocarbon analysis to

c.l900 B.C. In addition two new complexes have been defined,

viz., the Cadwalader complex and the Fralinger complex. The

Cadwalacter complex, probably first appearing about 7SO B.C .,

relates to an Early Woodland group whose vestiges include

broad side-notched projectile points, crude flat-bottom ce­

ramic vessels, a variety of bone, antler, and shell tools,

and large refuse deposits suggesting a well balanced hunting

and gathering economy . On the Late Woodland t ime level, the

Fralinger complex comprises small t riangular points, plain,

fabric-impressed, and cord-marked conoidal pottery, ceramic

smoking pipes, and a fev associated historic artifacts.

Paleo-Indian, Barly to Middle Archaic, and Midd le Wood­

land manifestations are rather dimly perceived, be~ng rep­

resented by a scattering of distinctive and presumably di­

agnostic artifaots. Accepting this inferential data, the

advent of human occupancy in this area is pushed back several

millenia. The proposed sequence is essentially complete and

consonant with the current understanding of prehistory in the

rest of the Northeast.

This research has answered soute of the long-standing

problems of southern Nev Jersey archaeology and has also

given rise to many others which still await elucidation.

CONTENTS

List of I l lustr ations . ... . ... . ,. .. ..... . ... i

List of Tables •.. .. . • • ... . ,., ........ . ..... iv

List of Maps • . , .. . ... . •... . . .. .. •• , .••• . • . , iv

Acknowledgments • • ••• ................ .. ..... v

Backg round •. .• • , . . . • • . • . • • . . . • . • . . . • • • • . . 1

History of Ar chaeological Studies in New Jersey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • • • • • • 1

Research Goals and Methods..... . ...... 7

Ecological Setting . ........ ... . .. ......... . 14

Early Colonial History . . . • • • • • • • • • • . • • • • • • • 25

The Fralinger Si t e . . • . . • • • • . • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 28

The Cadwalader Site •• • • • • ••• .• • •• • , • • • • • • • • 61

The Cadwalader Annex Site . .. . . ..... .. . . . .. . 91

Previously Investigated Sites •• • • • •• •• • •••• 107

The Bast Point Site ........ . ........ . ... . . . 109

The I ndian Head Si te • • • • •••• . . . . ' ......... . 119

The Union Lake Sites ••••. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1J1

Discussion ......... . ...•........ . ...... .. .. 149

Conclusions • .•• • •. • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

References • •.•• •. .•..•• . .•.• .•• •• •• • • •••.•• 195

i

UST OF IllUSTRATIONS

Plate 1: General View of the Fralinger Site ••••• • •••• , 27

Plate 2: Stratigraphic Profile at the Fralinger Site •• Jl

Plate J: Triangular Points from Stratum 1 at the Fralinger Site •...••... . •.....•.••.•.•..••.•. )S

Plate 4: Pottery from Stratum 1 at the Fralinger Si te. ,,,,, ,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, •...........•... J9

Plate 5: Ceramic Smoking Pipes from Stratum 1 at the Fralinger 51 te • • , , , • , , , , , , , • , •• • , •• •• , 44

Plate 6: Tomba~ Button from Stratum 1 at the Fralinger Site •• ,.,, •••• , ••• , ••• ,,,.,. 46

Plate 7: Hickory Nuts from the Fralinger Site ••••••••• 47

Plate 8: feature 1 from Stratum 2 at the Fralinger Site •••.•••••••••• •• .••..•••.•...•• 48

Plate 9: Large Square-Stemmed Points from Stratum 2 at the fralinger Site •• •• •••••••••• 50

Plate 10: Chipped Celt or Adte from Stratum 2 at the Frali nger 51 te ••••• , • , • , • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 52

Plate 11: Small Short -Stemmed Points from Stratum 2 at the rralinger Site •••••.••.•••• . 5J

Plate 12: General View of the Cadwalader Site,,,,,,,,,, 60

Plate 13: Profile at the Cadwalader Site shotdng Cut through Aboriginal Shell Oeposit ••••••••• 64

Plate 14: Feature 1 at the Cadwalader Site ,,,,,,,,,,,,, 67

Plate 15: Chipped Stone Artifacts from the Cadwalader Site •.....•.................•..... 71

Plate 16 : Rim Sherds from the Cadwalader Site ••• ••••••• 75

Plate 17: Cadwalader Corded Sherds from the Cadwalader Site •• ... ••.....••••••..•••.••.••• 76

ii

Plate 18: Probable Notched ~etsinkers from the Cadwalader Site ... ... ........... .. ... 77

Plate 19: Bone and Antler Artifacts f'rom the Cadwalader Site., • • , ••••••••• • • • • ,.,. 79

Plate 20: Historic Artifacts from the Cad1~alader Site. ,, 81

Plate 21: Prof ile at the Cadwalader Annex Site Showing Cut through Aboriginal Shell Deposit.......... 94

Plate 22: Chipped Stone Artifacts from the Cadwalader Annex Site •• , • • , . , , •• , •••• , •• , ..... 98

Plate 23: Cadwalader Corded Sherds from the Cad1~alader Annex Site,. , , ••• , • •• •••••• , , . , •• , • 99

Plate 24: Rough Stone Artifacts from the Cadwalader Annex Site., • • • , . , .•••••••• ,,, ••••• 101

Plate 25: Clam Shell Tools from the Cadwalader Annex Site ., •• ,.,., ••• , ,. , .,.,, ••• 102

Plate 26: General View of the East Point Site •• •• •• •••• • 110

Plate 27: Indian Site Survey Excavations at the Bast Point Site, 1939·., . . , ... ,. , .. . . ,,. ,,,, .. 111

Plate 28 : Stone Artifacts from the East Point Site •••••• 113

Plate 29: Pottery from the East Point Site •• • •• • • ••••• • • 115

Plate 30: Projectile Points from the Indian Head Site • •• 122

Plate Jl: Scrapers and Drills from the Indian Head Site • . ......•.. . ...•.•. , . .• .• •. , ••.... , . . 12J

Plate 32: Riggins Fabric-Impressed Pottery from the Indian Head Si te •• • • ,,, •• •••. •••••••• •••• • 125

Plate JJ: Pottery from the Indian Head Site •• • •••••••••• 126

Plate J4: Pottery and Pipe Fragments from the Indian Head Site .. .. .. ... . . ... .... .. ... , ..• ... 127

Plate 35: Chipped Stone Artifacts from Union Lake (l.Acus IV ) •••• • • , • • , , ••• , • •• , •• , •• , , , , •• , • , , •• 1)6

Plate J6: Stemmed Projectile Points from Union Lake (Locus I ) •• ••••••• • ••••••••••••• , •• •• •• •.••• •• 137

·.

Plate 37 : Susquehanna Tradition Artifacts from Union Lake (Locus I ) ••..••...•••••••. , •• , , . , • 138

Plate 38: Fishtail Points fr om Union Lake (Locus I) .. ..................... . . . • ... , .. , . . 1J9

Plate 39 : Projectile Points from Union lake (Locus I ) , , , , •• , , , •••• , , .• , . , ..•. , • • . • • • . • . • • 14 0

Plate 40 : Projectile Points from Union Lake (Locus III ) ............ ,, ..•. ,.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Plate 41: Triangular Points and Drill from Union Lake (Locus I) , , , • , ••• , • , , , •• , . , •••. , • • 142

Plate 42: Pottery from Union Lake (Locus I) ••.••••••••• 14J

Plate 4J: Pottery from Union Lake (Locus II ).,,,,,,,,,, 144

Plate 44: Cache of Robbins Blades in situ on property of Herbert \i . Vanaman • 1927. . . • • • • • • 180

Fi gure 1 : Varieties of Riggins Fabric-Impress ed Pottery •....•....•..••....••..••••...•.•.•..• 186

Fi gure 2 : Tentative Cul t ural Sequence and Chronology ••• 190

i ii

iv

LIST OF T.IIBLES

Table 1. The Flora of Southern New Jersey • • , • • 19

Table 2 . The Fauna of Southern New Jersey •• ••• 22

Table J . Comparison of Early \~oodland

Ceramic 'rypes ••• • • •••••• • • •• •••••• 173

LIST OF ~11\PS

Map . l. Prehistoric Sites in the ~Iaurice River Drainage....... . .. .. .. 10

Map 2. Floral Districts of the Maurice River Tidewater :\ rea . , •• • •• , • • • , • • • • 17

Nap J. The Fralinger Site. . .... . . .... ..... . .. . 29

Map 4. The Cadwalader Site •• • ••• •• • •• • •••••••• 62

Nap 5. The Cadl~alader Annex Site. . .. . .... . ... . 92

A CKNOWLBDUNBNTS

The research presently to be described 1~as begun under

the auspices of the Maurice River Historical Society of

Mauricetown, New J ersey. I would like to thank in partic­

ular John DuBois 1 President of the Maurice River Historical

Society and Perry A. Brett , Chairman of the Archaeological

Committee for their many helpful suggestions and commendable

aid in formulating and initiating this project . Funding

which made this research possible was provi ded by the

Institute of Social and Economic Research of Memorial

University of Nelifoundland lihose support is recognized with

due appreciation. Thr ouehout this study the archaeological

collections of the New Jersey State Nuseum in Trenton , N.J.

were kindly ma~e available for examination , and the cooperation

of all parties thus involved is hereby gratefully acknowledged.

For his analysis of our soil samples and his ready con­

sultation on related mattors , I am endebted to Dr . S.J. Toth,

Professor of Soils at Rutgers University , Nelt Brunswick, N.J.

Richard S. bbite, Jr. of the Anthropology Department of

Temple Universi ty , Philadelphia, Pa., examined the refuse bone

samples , and his analysis and comments, gratefully received ,

a re included later in the text.

Inquiries directed to pro fessional archaeologists were

answered without exception. I 11ish to thank the following

v

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for their collaboration, and many salutary comments:

D~na F. Dincauu, Robert B. Funk, Jacob w. Gruber, lv .

Fred Kinsey III, William A· Ritchie, and Bert Salven.

To Charles F. Kier, Jr., a devoted non-professional ar­

chaeologist, I owe many thanks for countless hours of

hospitality and unrestricted access to his library as well

as for his many thoughtful comments and suggestions.

I wish also to acknowledge the cooperation of the

site owners, particularly l~rs. A. J, Fr:altn:ger, Mr. and

Mrs. R.n. Wood, the Millville Manufacturing Company, and the

Nev Jersey Division of Fish, Game, and Shell Fisheries. To

those others whose property vas made open but which for want

of time, could not be investigated, I would also express my

appreciation.

likewise, the following who made their collections avail­

able for study are deserving of thanks: Perry A· Brett,

Harry Francois, Henry Reeves, Everett Turner, Herbert Vanaman,

and ~~s. George Woodruff,

vi

My dedicated field assistants are to be congratulated for

their perseverance and eager participation despite many delays

and often undesirable working conditions. I would like expe­

cially to recognize formally the services of Perry A. Brett,

Harry Francois, Jay B. Mounier and particularly Alice ~~. Mo unier

to whom also fell the t hankless task of typing the many communi­

cations and preliminary reports associated with this 'investi­

gation •

Finally, for his constant inspiration and guidance, by

precept and example, I am endebted to Dr. James A. Tuck

of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology , Memorial

University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland.

vii

BACKGROUND

History of Archaeological Studies in New Jerser

The object of this brief review is to familiarize the

reader wi th some of the salient events in the long and often

complex history of archaeological inquiry in New Jersey.

Since Cross (1941:1-J; 1956:1-10) has already recorded in

some detail considerable information relating to the earlier

archaeoloBical researches in this s tate, the following dis­

cussion is presented in capsule form .

The earliest recorded archaeological studies in New Jersey

were concerned with the questions of 11paleolithio man" and the

"argillite culture" at the Abbott Farm, near Trenton. As a

result of these researches and the bitter, long•lived contro­

versy that followed, New Jersey became the cynosure of early

arcb~lo5ical investigation in the eas t ern United States.

As early as 1872 Charles c. Abbott adu.nbrated the possi­

bility of i dentifying "glacial man" in the New World on the

basis of crude argillite artifacts from his farm along the

Delaware River (Abbott 1872). from time to time Abbott re­

vised his thinking but al the while adhered to his theory of

the early origin of the crude implements. By l 88J he had

developed a sequence of three more or less dis t inct cultures

at the Abbott farm; viz., the "paleolithic'' culture , the

"argillite culture", and the mode rn Indian culture (Abbott

188J) . The "paleolithic" culture was characterized by crude

chipped stone ar t ifacts which were presumed to be of glacial

1

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age as j udged from their discovery in the Trenton outwash

gravels. The 11argilli te cul tur•", deemed to be intermed­

iate in content and age between "paleolithic man" and t he

historic Lenape, vas marked by the presence of r oughly

formed agrillite spear points. Finely chipped flint pro-

jectile points and pottery were considered the cultural

diagnostics of the modern Indians. Bach "culture" was

attribut ed to a different leYel within the site, but, were,

in fact, later shown to represent parts of a mixed assem­

blage.

The concept of "paleolithic man" came un; er critical

pr4fessional review, and became the focal point of a heated

and protracted controversy (cr. Meunier 1972a). Af ter an

initial phase of acceptance, Abbott's scheme vas repudiated

by most professional geologists and anthropologists, in­

cluding William Henry Holmes, John wesley Powell,

Henry Mercer, \i.J. McGee, and .Ales III'Jtlicka. By the end

of the 19th century the ques t ion or man in the glacial era

at Trenton had all but been laid to rest.

The question of the "argillite culture" vas another

matter entirely. For the most part the discussion centered

around the investigations of Brneat Volk (1911) who excavated

on the Lalor Farm near Trenton from 1889 to 1910. Tbe cru­

cial point was the age of the relic-bearing "yellow sand".

this problem was an unsettl«lissue from t he t urn of the

century well into the 1930's (Richards 1939)• The Yalidity

of the "argillite culture" as a distinct cultural entity vas

subsequently reviewed by SkinnGr and Spier at the Abbott

2

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Farm in 1914 (Spier 1918) and by Hawkes and Linton (1916) at

the Crispin Farm near Medford, Burlington County. These in­

vestigators generally concurred that a pre-Lenape--but not

necessarily pre-Indian--culture was present . Nevertheless,

the problem was not resolved to everyone's satisfaction and

the question was re-opened in the Indian Site Survey research

of t he JO's and 40's.

Apart from the issue• of 11paleolithic man" and the

"argillite culture", early research in New Jersey archaeology

was devoted to site surveys, aimed at creating artifact typol­

ogies and listing site distributions. New Jersey's first

state-wide arohaeological survey was authorized by the Legis­

lature in April of 1912 and field work commenced later that

year under the direction of Alanson B· Skinner, aided by

Leslie Spier and Max Schrabisch. About one thousand sites

were located and recorded that first year.

During 191J the survey continued unaer the supervision

of Schrabisch and Spier (Schrabisch 1915; Spier 1915).

Schrabisch 1s efforts were concentra t ed in the northwestern

extremity of the state in Sussex County while Spier visited

sites along the drainages of the Raritan River in Union County,

the Maurice River in Cumberland County and various tributaries

of the Delaware in Salem and Gloucester Counties.

Official support of New Jersey archaeology then lapsed

until mid-1931 when Dorothy Cross excavated two rockshelters

in Suss ex County with fi nancial backing from the New Jersey

State Museum anct the University of Pennsylvania .

J

Archaeological interests again lay dormant until 19J6

when, to meet the exigencies of the Depression era, large

work forces were mobilized to form the Indian Site Survey.

The work of the Indian Site Survey, operating as a project

of the Work Projects Administration (WPA), continued for

nearly five years under the supervision of Dorothy Cross,

Allan H. Smith, and Nathaniel Knowles, in consecutive terms.

Nany sites were recorded in all parts of the state and a­

bout forty were excavated between 1936 and 1941, including

the Abbott Farm and two sites in the Maurice River drainage

of relevance to the current report.

The object of the Indian Site Survey, it seems, was

primarily to provide work for the unemployed, and secondar­

ily to investigate problems of archaeological interest. As

with the earlier survey the Indian Site Survey sought to

establish a firm typological schedule that would allow

"comparative study ••• of artifacts or a determination of

the change and interrelation of cultures" ~ross 194l:J},

The question of a pre-Lenape horizon was revived, but that

such a horizon did not exist seemed almost a foragone con­

clusion. The final report of the excavations (Cross 1941)

showed that, apal'.t from creating a neater typology, the

state of the discipline had advanced ·little over earlier

times.

During the war years and the recovery period New Jersey

archaeology was fallow ground. With the folding of the

Indian Site Survey, the State of New Jersey had all but

4

gone out of the business of doing field archaeology. Hence-

forth, all investigations of any magnitude or duration were

to be supported by individual•, private foundations or the

federal government.

It was not until the late 1940's that the Delaware

Project, sponsored by the Indiana Historical Society, with

the financial backing of Bli Lilly, was to breathe new life

into New Jersey studies. The Delaware Project was created

for the purposes of i dentifying the historic villages of the

Delaware and to test the validity of the Walam Olam, the

pictographic history of the Lenape. From 1947 to 1949 the

Delaware Project employed an imposing list of prominent

professional archaeologists, including William A. Ritchie,

Catherine McCann, John Witthoft, and Richard s. MaoNeish.

Ritchie excavated the famous Bell-Philhover site in

Sussex County (Ritchie 1949). Witthoft and MacNeish labored

at the OVerpeck site in Bucks County , Pennsylvania, while

)!cCann (19.50;19.57) concentrated on sites in central and

southern New Jersey. The pro ject was valuable inairing new

data but failed to produce concrete substantiation of the

Walam Olam or to locate unequivocal historic Lenape ocoupa-

tions.

The 1950's produced few professional studies, mostly

s i ngle s1 te investigations (Gruber and Mason 19.56; M.ason

19.57). Of course the final report of the Abbott Farm ex­

cavations vas released in 19.56 (Cross 19.56) but the value of

this publication in building a regional cult ural sequence

and chronology vas diminished by poor excavation techniques

5

\ I

..

and by the mixe:i and confusing assemblages at this spec­

tacular si te. At this time the burden of archaeologi cal

inquiry was borne by the Archaeological Society of New

Jersey and more particularly by a few dedicated non­

professional archaeologists of whom Charles r. Kier, Jr.

is perhaps the most paradigmatic. ICier's nearly single­

banded labors at the Raccoon Point site in Gloucester

Oounty continued for several years until the site was finally

destroyed by the creation of a huge dike along the Delaware

River. The report that followed, (Kier and Calverly 1957)

while now dated in some respects, still ranks among the most

comprehensive and discerning contributions to our present

understanding of New Jersey prehistory.

Beyond the confines of the state boundaries numerous

noteworthy contr~tions continued to be made. Outstanding

is Ritchie's i~pressive series ot publications which provides

the framework for ordering archaeological data in the whole

of the Northeast and serves also as a counterpoise to the

virtual dearth of published material elsewhere (Ritchie 19)8;

1944: 1949; 1955; 1959; 1961; 196;; 1969)·

Other contributions to the emerging literature of the

Northeast and Middle Atlantic region are the writings of

Smith (1950) and Witthoft (19)2; 19SJ).

From the 60's on and with t he rapid acceleration of

"urban sprawl" and other pernicious aspects of "progress ,"

archaeology in New Jsrsey and adjacent areasexp~rienced a

r e•avakenir.g of professional interest, ofttime ai med at

6

salvaging data from threatened sites. In some cases the

methodologies employed proved to be even more threatening

than "progress" itself (cr. Sloshberg 1964), but fnr the

most part the work was of some value for isolating regional

complexes and ~xpancling the content and distributions of

better known manifestations, such as the "Transitional"

cultures (Kraft 1970; 1972; Kinsey 1972), Recent studies

of Early and Middle Archaic cultures (Coe 1964; Broyles

1966; 1971; Dincauze 1971; Ritchie and Funk 1971) are of

more than passing interest since they suggest the potential

of the Middle Atlantic region for the elucidation of some

long-standing problems in Northeastern prehistory as dis­

cussed in greater detail anon.

Having briefly recapitulated the history of archaeo­

logical research in New Jersey it remains now to evaluate

some of the theoretical and ~ethodologieal implications of

the prior research and to relate t~em to the present thesis.

Research Goals and Methods

From the foregoing discussion it should be clear that

the earlier researchers labored under a number of methodo­

logical handicaps. Primary among these waa the explicit

belief that the creation of a tight artifact typology would

elucidate "determination of change and interrelation of

cultures" (Cross l94l:J ) . To fu~ther compound confusion it

seems that generally only the more spectacular or productive

sites were selected for excavation, regardless of the fact

that they were, in the main, large unstratified, multi-

7

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component stations , The conclusion that "the aboriginal

culture in most of New Jersey vas homogeneous ••• " is there-

fore not very surprising.

The principal shortcoming of the early investigations

was the failure to divide the excavated cultural remains

into discrete, manageable units. Moreover the undue emphasis

on typology obscured the i mpor tance of ecological and func-

tional considerations and, coupled with the mixed nature of

the sites, complicated the creation of a usoful relative

chronology.

Overcoming these three major failings was the object of

this study of Maurice River prehistory. While the ~uric•

River tidewater area has yielded evidence of repeated occu-

pations throughout the long span of prehistory and into the

modern era, such evidence has usually been found mixed in the

ground or as scattered surface finds. It was therefore hoped

that excavation of several carefully selecteJ sites would pro-

vide the data necessary to define, for the first time, some of

the culturally significant assemblages in the area as well as

to establish a tight chronoloeical framework to order the re-

sulting sequence. Also, it was hoped that some information

could be gathered regarding aboriginal patterns of ecological

adaptation and exploitation.

In order to meet the~e goals it was decided that only

small, unmixed, and s1nglo-co1nponent or olearly stratified

sites should be excavated, for as Witthoft (1959:79) relates:

The greatest need of eastern archaeology is more stratigraphic work •• , Site situations in­volving superposition rather than actual stratig­raphy are adequate only to outline trends through-

8

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out a major sequence, rather than to define actual s t eps and stages . Sites with deep and highl y differentiated stratigrapfiy ••• are of such bade importance that locating and study ­ing them should take precedence over any other approach • •••

This oft-stat ed i deal is rarely pursued and seldom

realized. Thus, for this study three small, relatively un-

complicated sites- the iralinger, Cadwalader, and Cadwalader

Annex sites- were chosen for examination. As expected, these

sites proved to be unproductive in quantitative t erms, but

each was frui t ful in providing information on only one or two

discretely segregated components. from them was secured in-

forma t ion regardinP, ecological adap tation in ages past and

the means of achieving a partially radiocarbon-based cbronol-

ogy.

The materials previously excavated by the Indian Site

Survey from t wo other Maurice River si tes - Indian Head and

Bast Point - were examined for comparative purposes as were

numerous private collections from the area, including material

from four now inundated sitea at Union lake (Meunier 1972).

A brief review of the natural setting and history of

early settlement of the Maurice River tidewa ter area is in-

eluded to provide some background for the si te descript ions

and excavation report s. Each site repor t will be structured

according t o t he following outline : int roduction (including

no t es on loca t ion, setting , and di scovery), stratigraphy and

cul t ural content, features, artifacts, floral or f aunal re-

mai ns, and int erpre tations •

9

IPREHISToRrc SITES IN THEI MAURICE RIVER DRAINAGE

.LEGEN 0

I. INDIAN HEAD 2 - 5. UNION LAKE SITES .

6 . FRALI NGE R 7. CADWALA 0 ER ANNEX a. CADWALA 0 ER 9. EAST POINT

+ . OTHER KNOWN SITES

D

7

.... 0

Analysis of the artifacts is presented in standard

style, with descriptions of form , si~e, manufacturi ng

techniques, and material as well as information regarding

the f ormal attributes within each of these categories.

Comments regarding comparative material, distribution, and

cultural/cbronological significance are also included.

The excavation techniques, which were essentially the

same at all sites, are described here to avoid redundancy

in t he text. After the sites had been tested and delimited,

a grid of five- foot squares was laid out by means of wooden

stakes i n the area to be excavated. The work then proceeded

by troweling individually through each stratum in horizontal

steps about a foot wide, maintaining a clean vertical face

(Plate 21). The provenience of all artifacts was recorded

by co-ordinates with respect to distance and direction f rom

the datum stake and position within the str atigraphic column.

Soil samples were collected from each stratum and carbon

samples were saved where possible for fu t ure C-14 analysis .

The effort was made to search for deeply buried com­

ponents at each site, but despite int ensive investi gation,

this endeavor was fraught with difficulties and was met

with negative results. At the Fralinger site several small

shafts were sunk to an overall depth of about eight feet.

This practice was discontinued after the col l apse of the

infirm sand walls engendered the f ea~ of imminent entombment.

The high water table at the Cadwalader Annex site rendered deep

testing futile. Both here and at the Cadwalader si t e the un-

productive search for deppsits buried deeper than the excava ­

t ion floor was confined to the deep drainage ditches which

11

transect the surrounding meadows.

Proponents of the "suffer ethic" - - ·. those who contend

that to make a contribution in archaeology one must travel to

the far corners of the globe, face the threat of political

upheaval or the ravages of exotic disease, or endure some

other hideous and indescribale torment - will take some small

pleasure to learn that all the excavations and backfilling

were done manually, for the most part by the author. It is

greatly hoped that this modest concession will compensate for

the convenience of living and working in a temperate clime

with adequate provision for comfortable housing, transporta­

tion, and sanitary and medical necessities.

The cultural materialamassed in this research will be

subdivided into components, phases, complexes, and traditions

as these terms are currently understood (Willey and Phillips

1958:21-48; Ritohie 196S:xvi; Kinsey 1972:xxv). A component

is simply the manifestation of a single culture at a stte . A

phase is the geographically and temporally restricted ex­

pression of a cultural group, represented by a recurring array

of traits sufficiently characteristic to distinguish it from

all other such units. The term "complex" refers to a constel­

lation of traits, recurring in time and space, and possibly

embracing two or more phases which may not be sufficiently

delineated to be so designated. finally a tradition can be

defined as a custom or concept, whether technologicel or

social, with persistence through time, while a culture can ba

taken to mean "a particular strain of social heredity of a

group of individuals largor than that represented by the

phase, and united by the sharing of a common tradition or

12

traditions" (Ritchie 1965: xvi).

In recognition of Dinoau~e 's (1968: 71) valid criti-

cisms of the cultural stage concept, cultural units above

the phase level will be grouped, insofar as possible, into

traditions, and the terms "Paleo-Indian," "Archaic," and

"Woodland" retained herein as convenient labels for culture

types in anticipation of the formal definition of such

types for the Northeast. In this wa1 it is hoped to avoid

the evolutionary implications and prooessual blurring in­

herent in the stage concept and still preserve familiar

terms of reference for these larger cultural classifications.

lJ

..

ECOLOGICAL SETTING

The Maurice River tidewater area occupies the southern

edge of the coastal plain in New Jersey, which forms part of

a larger ecological zone encompassing the Atlantic slope of

the Middle Atlantic States as a whole . This zone corresponds

to what Stephenson and Ferguson (1963:200-05) have called the

Middle Atlantic Cu l ture Province, which as an archaeological

culture area reflects the delicate ecological adjustment of

the included native cultures .

The entire region is characterized by tidal marshes

which were formed at a time when the water l evel was lower

than present and the valleys were more deeply eroded. A

subsequent differential rise in sea level (Shepard, 1964;

Milliman and Emery 1968) has resulted in the flooding of the

troughs. Thus, the area is typified by drowned river valleys,

large bays, and swamps. Most of the st reams are tidal for a

great distance from their mouths .

The Maurice River is one of the most important tide­

water streams in southern New Jarsey. It originates near

Glassboro, in Gloucester County and flows southltard

for approximately 33 miles to its confluence with the Dela­

ware Bay. The river drains a total area of 386 square miles

of \thi ch 168 square miles drain directly into tidal waters.

The head of tideliater is about 24 miles north of the Delaware

Bay , following the river. The tidal intrusion is halted by

the dam at Union Lake which now occupies the headwaters of

the original tidal bas i n (Vermeule 1894:268- 69 ).

14

The topography of the Maurice Hiver area can be described

as flat to gently undulating, with the greatest relief dis­

played along the middle reaches of the river. The elevation

ranges from sea level to a maximum of 141 feet. The general

slope is southerly, toward the Dela11are Bay (Engle; et .al.

1921:,5).

The soils of various series derive from unconsolidated

beds, mainly of marine origin. The dominant soil series of the

area is the "sassafras Sand" which is typified by its "brown,

yellowish-brown, or light brown surface soils and reddish­

yelloll' or orange-cOlored subsoil 11 (Ibid: 24).

The pertinent geological formations comprise the

Kirkwood, Cretaceous, Cohansey, and Cape May formations.

The Kirkwood and Cretaceous, the oldest deposits in the area,

are completely buried locally by the Cohansey formation which

is marked by coarse sand and localized beds of gravel, the

last of which is composed of quartz, chert, and quartzose­

sandstone pebbles, ranging in size from one quarter inch to

one and one-half inches in diameter. The quaternary Cape· May

formation is the most recent in the area and outcrops along

the middle and lower Maurice River valley (Salisbury and Knapp

1917:3). The constituents of the Cape May deposit were de­

rived from older formations and were laid down under varying

degrees of submergence in bays or estuaries (Engle, et. al.

1921:24), This submergence is attested to by the fossil shell

bed on the Fralinger tract near Port Elizabeth. This unusual

bed of fossil oyster and clam shells has long been lmown to

geologists as a natural deposit of Pleistocene age (Cape May

1.5

formation) dating from the last interglacial stage (Cook

1868:JOJ-04; Richards 19JJ:l90). Unfortunately, the local

residents and relic hunters regard the shell bed as. an

Indian midden: their probings, combined with extensive bank

erosion, have practically eradicated all trace of this in­

teresting and peculiar feature.

The present climate in the Maurice River tidewater area

is rather temperate. Annual precipitation, according to u.s.

Weather Bureau figures (Weeks 1952), amounts to just over 4J

inches, with about three and one-half inches falling each

month. The average annual temperature is 57.3or. The winter

low averages about J6.JOJ for January while tbe summer high

is an average of 79.4°F for the month of July.

The temperate climate is reflected in the existing

flora and fauna which are representative of the Carolinian

biotic province (Stone 1911:41: 1908). The faunal list has

probably not changed a great deal in the last few centuries

except for the regional extinction of such species as bear,

sturgeon, and wild turkey . Presently the interior is forested

with various deciduous and evergreen trees which reflect a

history of frequent and extensive forest fires. In late pre­

historic times, the forest cover was most likely not much

different from the present, except that it must have been

considerably denser in times past.

Stone (1911:57) divides the New Jersey coastal plain

into five floral districts, three of which are pertinent to

this study; viz., the Pine Earrens, the Middle District, and

the J.laritime District (See Map 2. ). The 1-taurice River divides

Southern New Jersey into two nearly equal segments and forms

16

DELAWARE BAY ... . . . . . . ; ·: ·=. .. . . .... . . . . . ,.• ... • .· ...

FLORAL DISTRICTS OF THE

MAURICE RIVER TIDEWATER AREA

... ....... - · .... .. ... :--.. _.

LEGEND

PINE BARRENS

MIDDLE DISTRICT .

. . . . . . . . . . ·.·.· ····· ·.·. · ..... ·.·.•. ·.· . . ········· MARITIME MARSHES

• , . -- - - -- - -- -'"iles

. : . ! ~

the zonal interface between the Pine Barrens and the ~Iiddle

District.

The northern edge of the Pine Barrens is in approximately

40° 1.5 1 N latitude; the aouthern edge is found at J9° 10 1 N

latitude. The extreme western border i s ~t t he Maurice River

at 7)0 s' w longitude, while the eastern margin is approxi­

mately defined by the salt marshes bordering the inter-coastal

bays on the Atlantic shore. The region measures about 7.5 miles

from the bortheast to southwest and about J.5 miles from east to

vest {Harshberger 1916:8), The flora of the Pine Barrens is

characterized by mixed pines and scrub oak {Stone 1911:68; see

Table 1).

18

The Middle District lies north and west of the Pine Barrens,

reaching around the bay shore to the center of the Cape Nay

peninsula. The Middle District is a region of deciduous forest,

producing a variety of hardwoods and fruit and nut trees{Stone

1911: 80-82; see Table 1). The boundary of the Middle District ·

with the Pine Barrens is neither straight nor distinct; narrow

tongues of the two flora interlace and often both elements

will be found along the borderline.

Moreover, peculiar coastal flora runs up the tidewater

streams to the limit of coastal intrusion. The freshwater

streams in the area are lined with cedar swamps which possess

a flora quite different from either the Pine Barrens or t he

~Iiddle District. The common trees of these swamps are white

cedar, magnolia, maple, and gum {St one 1911: 70; see Table 1 ) .

The Maritime flora are limited to the salt meadows and

comprise three low, even grasses: salt meadow grass (Spartina

patens), marsh spike grass (Distichlis spioata), and black

-TABLB 1-

THE FLORA OF SOtTl'HBRN NBW JBRSBY (cr. Stone 1911)

PINB BARRBNS FLORA

Common Na.me White birch Sassafras Sour Gum Chestnut oak

Scrub oak

White oak Blaok oak Post oak Pitch pine Yellow pine

Scientific Name Betula alba sassafras sassafras Nyssa sylvatica Quercus prinus Q, 1lic1folia Q. marylandioa Q, prinoides Q, alba (rare ) Q, velutina Q, stellata Pinus r1g1da p, eohinata

MIDDLB DISTRICT fLORA Common Name Scientific Name

Willow oak ~uercus phellos Pin oak %• palustris Spanish oak g. triloba Sweet gum Liquidambar styraciflua Tulip Liriodendron tulipifera Beech :ragus grandifolia Hornbeam Carpinus oaroliniana Flowering dogwood Cornus florida River birch Betula nigra Sour gum Nyssa sylvatica Mo cker nut hickory Carya alba Pig-nut hickory c. glabra Wild cherry Prunus serotina Persimmon Disoprros virginiana Holly !lex opaca \~ild honeysuckle Azalea nudiflora

OBDAR S \iA~lP FLORA

Common Name \flli te cedar Swamp magnolia Carolina red maple Sour gum Alder Poison sumac Blueberry Sedges

~entifio Name Chamaecyparis thyoides Magnolia virginiana Aoer rubrum carolinianum Nyssa sylvatica Alnus rugosa Rhus vernix Vaocinium sp. Carex sp.

19

grass (Juncus gerardi) (Stone 1911:96).

The Maurice RiTer tidevater area yields a vide variety

of comestible fauna which are to be found variously distri -

buted in the three floral districts just described . In the

following discussion the most i mportant mammals, fish and

fowl will . be mentioned briefly and lists of the typical ex­

amples in each category presented in Table 2.

That the Delaware Bay region presented a broad spectrum

of potential subsistence commodities is clear from the 1634

account of Cape May by Robert Evelyn:

I saw there an infinite quantity of bustards, swans, geese and fowl, covering the shores, as within the like multitude of pidgeons and store of turkeys, of wbich I tried one to weigh forty and six pounds. There is much variety and plenty of deli­cate fresh and sea fish and shellfish, and whales and grampus, elks, deere that bring three young at a time. (Quoted in Stevens 1897:24).

The most important mammal as an aboriginal food source

was unquestionably the white-tail deer. Also of doubtless

i mportance were elk, black bear, raccoon, beaver, muskrat,

and opossum. Many of these once plentiful mammals have been

extripated or greatly reduced thr oughout much of their former

range owing to overhunting and habitat destruction . For in-

stance, both the elk and bison which once occurred in New

Jersey are now extinct, (Stone 1908:SS ), and the black bear

20

is nearly so. The last reported sighting of a bear in southern

New Jersey was in the Blackwater swamp in Vineland in 1902

(Stone 1908:107)• Of some interest was the discovery near

Bridgeton, New Jersey some years ago of a small stel!lllled point

found deeply embedded in the humeral epiphysis of a modern

bison, thus illustrating not only the presence of bison in the

East but also the fact of their pursuit by aborieinal hunters

( Kier 1954).

~~ritime mammals , including whales and seals, once

occurred in some numbers in the lo'a tors of the Delauare Bay

21

and have been sporadically recorded well into the 19th century

(Stone 1908:42, 99). The remains of whales were found during

tho Indian Site Survey excavations at the Salisbury and Abbott

Farm sites (Cross 1941: 60-61 ). \ihether whales ltere actively

pursued by aborieinal man in this area is unknown, but it is

entirely possible that an accidentally beached whale could

have been butchered and eaten. The presence of these creatures

in the Delaware Bay, of course , was one reason for the early

European settlement of the area (see P• 25)•

The forest and meadows undoubtedly produced various fowl

in profusion. The wooded tracts must have harbored wild turkey

and grouse while the river and the salt marshes bordering the

bay were and remain to t his day inviting to a wide variety of

ltaterfowl as feeding stations and staging areas for migra­

tions alon~ the .1\tlantic Flyway. The more common waterfo1tl

today include canada gooso, t he sno1t goose, brant, mallards,

and black ducks amone others. Raptorial birds includin~ the

bald eagle, osprey, and marsh hawks ltere once common although

t heir numbers are now so vastly reduced that most of them s eem

doomed to extinction.

Reptiles of various kinds and f ish - especially anadromous

species such as sturgeon and shad - were numerous and must have

been of cons i derable importance to t he aboriginal fisherman

(Fowler 1908 : see Table 2) as of cours e were shellfish.

According to John DuBois of the Ne\• Jersey Division of

- TABLE 2-

THE FAUNA OF SOUTHERN NBii JERSEY

• denotes extinct or threatened species. + archaeologically present in the lower

Maurice River drainage.

MAMMALS

Common Name

Virginia opossum •Right whale •Fin-backed whale Bottle-nose dolphin

+Virginia deer *Elk *Bison Cottontail rabbit Muskrat

+*Beaver

•Fox squirrel Gray squirrel

*Harbor seal •Harp seal Carolina otter

+Eastern skunk Raccoon

•Black bear Red fox

+Gray fox +Domestic dog •Cougar •Wild cat

Scientific Name

Didelphis virginiana Balaena glacialis Baleanoptera physalus Tursiops trunoatus Odocoileus virginianus Cervus canadensis Bison bison Sylvilagus floridanus Fiber zibethicus Castor canadensis (Castor fiber) Sciurus niger s. carolinensis Phoca vi tulina p. groenlandica Lutra canadensis Mephitis mephitis Procyon lotor Ursus amerioanus Vulpes ful va Urooyon cinereoargenteus Canis familiaris Felis eouguar Lynx ruffus

BIRDS

Common Name

Canada goose Snow goose Ame rican brant ~lallard

Black duck Redhead duck Canvasback duck

*\iild turkey *Bald eagle Osprey ~Iarsh hawk Red-tailed hawk

•Passenger pigeon Mourning dove

Scientific Name

Branta canadensis Chen hyperborea Branta hernicla Anas platyrhynohos A. rubripestristis Nyroca americana N. valisineria Neleagris gallopavo Haliaeetus leucocephalus Pandlon ha!iaetus Circus cyaneus Buteo jamaicensis Ectopistes migratorius Zenaidura macroura

22

-TABLB 2-( Cont' d.)

FISHES

Common Name

•common sturgeon •Short-nosed sturgeon Hickory shad Alewife Black- bellied herring Shad Moss bunker

•Salmon Eel Catfish Ditch pike Pickerel Calico bass Sunfish Large mouth bass Yellow perch \Yhi te perch Weak fish Drum fish

Scientific Name

Acipenser sturio A. brevircstrum Pomolobus mediocris p. pseudoharengus p . aestivalis Alosa sapidissima Brevoortia tyrannus Salmo salar Anguilla chrisypa Ameiurus sp. Bsox americanus E. retioulatus Pomoxis sparoides inneacanthus sp. M.icropterus salmoides Perea flavescens Morone alllericana cynoscion regalis Pogonias cromis

REPTILES

Common Name

Snapping turtle +Box tortoise +Northern diamond­

back terrepin +Common mud turtle

Scientific Name

Chelydra serpentina Terrepene carolina

Malaclemys terrapin Xinosternon subrubrum

23

Fish, Game and Shell Fisheries, modern mollusc distribution

in the Delaware Bay and Maurice River is governed by the

relative salinity of the water. Oysters require compara­

tively fresh water while clams favor more saline solutions.

Today oysters occur in the central bay and up the Maurice

River for a maximum distance of seven and one half miles

from the mouth at East Point. Both hard - and soft shell

clams are absent from the Maurice River cove. They are

found instead along the Cape May bay shore about ten to

twelve miles east of East Point. Hard- and soft shell clams

occupy the same general area, varying locally because of dif­

ferences in the bottom (DuBois, conversation).

In light of the foregoing discussion then it is not at

all surprising to find evidence of more or less conti nuous

aboriginal occupation of the Maurice River tidewater area,

beginning at an early, though Qs yet undetermined period.

Beyond cavil, the features that favored Indian habitation -

the varied abundant food resourees, the well- drained soil,

and the temperate climate - also attracted European settlers

as reviewed below.

24

BARLY COLONIAL HISTORY

The early European exploration of the New Jer sey coast

began in the early decades of the 16th century. Verrazano,

sailing in 1.524, was the first recorded Buropean visitor ,

followed some years later by Henry Hudson (1609) . Cornelius

Jacobsen May explored the lower Delaware River and named Cape

May in 1614, but it was nearly twenty years later that any

effort was made to settle the area (Wilson et.al.l950;8-9).

In the 1630's the Dutch planned t o colonize the Delaware

Bay shore for the purposes of planting tobacco and grain and

to establish a whale and seal fishery. David Pie terson de

Vries said: "March 29, 1633 - found that our people have

caught seven whales; we could have done more if we had good

harpoons, for they struck snenteen fish and only saved seven"

(quoted in Stevens 1897 : 21). Knowledge of tho exeollont pros­

pects for whaling prompted the White occupation of Cape May,

and from 16.50 to 17.50 the whaling industry reached its peak in

the Delaware Bay (Ibid: )O).

Also a ttracted by the abundant wildlife the Swedes formed

early settlements along the ~Iaurice River at Dorches tar and

Leesburg between 16J7 and 1654 (Barber and Howe 1861: 147)· A

Swedish village was also supposed to have been founded near

Port Bliube.th-a.bou.t-L6,:iO and... by the elld....of- the 17th cell--"'""-.14----- __ _

a number of documents relating to the colonization of t he

river had appeared in Burope (Bl mer 1869 :72 ).

Shortly after 167.5 the Indian title t o all the land f rom

the Delaware to the Maurice River vas extinguished (Stevens

1397:29) , but the area remained sparsely settled by Whi tes

for a quarter century or o1ore. OWing to the slowness of the

White infiltration the native population probably continued

its claim of usufruct to the lower Maurice River valley,

although no record of the Indian exodus from the area or of

contact seems to have survived, except, perhaps, in the

legendary account of the foundering and subsequent destruc­

tion by Indians of the Dutch ship the Prince Maurit~, whence

the river derives its name. At any rate, with the passing of

the Indians, certainly no later than 1750, begins a new era

which is beyond the scope of the present report.

In the following sections the sites are described in

detail. Included are data relative to stratigraphy, features,

and artifacts as well as comments regarding the local and

regional significance of each site and its archaeological

contents .

26

27

- PLATE 1 -

GENERAL VIEli OF THE FRALINGER SITE•

Arrow indicates locus of excavation.

'•

THE FRALINGER SITB

Introduoticil

The fralinger site is located along the east bank of the

Maurice River about eight miles, straight line distance, north

of the Delaware Bay on the property of Mrs. A. J, Jralinger of

Bridgeton, New Jersey (Map 3). At this point the river is

tidal and is bordered by extensive salt marshes. The site is

situated in a grove of mature hickory and white oak trees on

a well drained knoll of Sassaf ras sand that rises about 15 feet

above flood tide. The broad spectrum of potential subsistence

commodities obtainable from the bay, river, marshes, and for­

est is self-evident. In short, the location is well suited

for human habitation.

Bxposure f rom bank erosion of a thick horizontal stratum

of nearly black soil l~d to systematic testing on the Fralinger

property in December of 1971· Limited inteneive testing estab­

lished the extent of the site and clearly revealed its strati­

fied nature. Favored by uncommonly clement weather, work con­

tinued through the month of January, 1972 during which time

28

10 five foot squares were opened and thoroughly explored (~p 3).

The excavated area covers most of the existing intensively

occupied portion of the site, which was in large part destroyed

by the construction of a drainage ditch by a WPA vork crew

about forty years ago. Subsequent erosion has further reduced

the site so that probably as little as half of the original

area remained at the outset of our work.

stratigraphy

The stratigraphic sequence as exposed in the excavations

is recorded below (Plate 2):

, ,. ..

• , , , • ' , ,

I , '

O'U f OU

01N,11

~

\

:z:\ u' . • fNOIJ

t- 1

( ;; ! \ o1NU

. l ll'aN01

·--"

MA P J

-~~ · ··-··· ........ . ~~ .. ' ,, ' " . ' , .. .. .. '

·.----4>---'-•

SIHOll .ottcoz:r w N

I-,.... en

(/) IL 0 . cr: c/) ,,.,,1] on•-'• a w z 0

<-' 0 0

z .... . c.!

_.J > • ..

<! <(

i iN0\2 OINOI:il (.)

cc X l.J... LLJ

--,--

' lNG; OINU

Olf\IOJ

0

\ \ \ \ \ \

' \ . \j I ii. ,.

~ t-0 -_~

~0 :J~ wt-t- U)

0 - 0 .. (/)0.

r I Ill I 0 w· ' ... I

.. ....I <( 0

L.. U LJ.. cr :> <C ..J:t:

• ll)(.)

• \ ·:\1 i~ ..

. --.:.:.-.­,. , ,

I

/ , , ,

OH ol

___ ...;'· ----Oltl ' "', '"'~

29

Modern Humus: The uppermost band is a recent humus and

forest duff, more or less evenly deposited over the entire

site with a thickness of three to six inches.

Recent Jill: This essentially sterile deposit is the

backdirt of the \iPA drainage excavation. Directly under­

lying the modern humus, it is com~ of mottled dark soil

and yellow sand. The recent fill forms a generally wedge­

shaped deposit over most of the site, tapering in thickness

towards the south from a maximum of c. two feet along the

northern limit of the excavation.

Stratum 1: Stratum 1 is an old humus that was buried

beneath the spoil of the liPA excavation. This layer, which

varies in thickness from six to eighteen inches, is dark in

color·, ranging from light gray to black. It represents an

occupation on slightly podzolited Sassafras soil (Toth,

personal communication). In spots, this st ratum splits into

two fairly discrete zones (1 and lA) which ~::ln be differen­

tiated on the bases of color and texture. Stratum lA is

discernably lighter in hue than the superimposed Stratum 1

and is considerably more compact. This difference can be

felt in troweling even where the color distinctions are not

especially prominent. The difference between these two bands

seem to relate to a relatively high clay content in the latter,

possibly resulting from the intentional mixture and trampling

of clay into the existing soil to create a living floor. This

undoubtedly aboriginal feature measured c. five by ten by one­

half feet in its greatest extent.

Both strata also contain charcoal in pieces of varying

size and an occasional fragmentary oyster or clam shell. A

JO

·.

- PlATE 2 -

STRATIGRAPHIC PROFILE AT THE FRAUNGER SITE ,

Upper: Mottled r ecent fill .

Middle: Stratum 1 : Ancient humus.

Lower: Stratum 2 : Yellow sand.

few hickory nuts and fragments of refuse bone were also

recovered. The artifaotual contents of bands 1 and lA

is identical; hence, both horizons are thought to be

coeval representing Late Voodland through contact habi­

tations.

Stratum 2: Underlying the old humus for an undeter­

mined depth is the yellow sand, typical of southern New

~ersey. At the junction of the humus and the yellow sand

and continuing several inches into the latter are found

relics of the Susquehanna tradition. One small feature,

described below, was found in the yellow sand.

The stratigraphic column was examined by s. J, Toth,

Professor of Soils at Rutgers University during a visit to

the site in July, 1972. Soil samples from both strata were

analy~ed by Toth with the following results:

Sample p~

Stratum 1 4. J

Stratum lA 5·3

Stratum 2

Organic Matter

2.8s% 1.06

o.sJ

According to Dr. Toth, both the pH and the organic con­

tent of the samples are normal for the various depths in the

Sassafras series, indioati~g that little free calcium from

refuse deposits presently remains in the ground. The depth

and exceptionally dark soil of Stratum 1 are not normal for

this series, and roth confirms that the humus is an occupa­

tional rather than a soils effect.

Feature l: Feature l was a charcoal filled pit found in

the yellow sand in the southwest corner of section BONlO. The

32

pit was oval in plan and measured 1911 X 24". It vas basin-

shaped in cross section and was about a foot from top to

bottom; the orifice opened about nine inches belov the base

of the humus. The pit contained only charcoal in pieces up

to finger-size . Unhappily, no associated artifacts vere re­

covered, but to judge from its stratigraphic position the pit

relates to the Susquehanna tradition component whose repre-

sentative square-stemmed points were found near at hand.

Charcoal from this feature yielded the very acceptable date

of 1880 B. 0.!1o0 years (I- 67)0) for the early development of

the Susquehanna tradition in thi s area as reviewed in greater

detail anon.

Artifacts

The artifacts from the Fralinger site vere found in un-

equivocal stratigraphic context: the diagnostic artifact

types of each componen t vere physicall y separated from thos e

of the other. No mixing vas observed . The very few objects

found out of context clearly do not relate to either ma j or

occupation and are believed to be intrus ive. Thus , it is

quite simple to isolate the elements of t he two major assem-

blages in evidence here.

Artifacts f rom Straturn 1: The artifacts collected from

Strat um 1 relate to Late Woodl and occupations, continuing

briefly it vould seem, int o the historic era . Representative

artifacts include small triangular points, small end scrapers,

and utilized flakes, all of flinty stones. Large, heavy ovoid

scrapers of quartz were also noted . Shell-, grit-, and ochre-

JJ

I I t

tempered pottery was found in some quantity. Most of the

sberds were cord-marked or plain, bu t a number of sherds of

the Riggins Fabr.ic-Impressed type were also found. At least

two varieties of ceramic smoking pipes are in evidence.

Other artifacts include numerous limonite nodules, many of

which were calcined evidently in order to derive hematite

for pottery temper or possibly for pigment . One small

graphite paintstone and two whetstones of fine-grained sand-

stone were also found . Neither artifacts of bone or shell

nor items of ground or polished stone were encountered. A

plain tombac button and variousscraps of iron and copper

objects provide e~guous evidence of occupation during the

historic period. Tbe association of the historic and ab-

original material is unequivocal: there is no doubt that

they are coeval. Apparently intrusive artifacts include one

Rossville point and a small corner-notched point from a root

channel disturbance. Both point types, variously ascribed

to Late Archaic to Middle Woodl and horizons (Ritchie 1961:46;

Kinsey 1 972:~66-67), clearly antedate the arti facts deposited

in Stratum 1.

The artifacts collected from St~atum 1 are described

below.

Stone Artifacts

Triangular Points (Plate J)

Summary Description: Small isosceles triangular points.

Form: (1 ) Blade: Isosceles triangular with straight sides .

J4

35

- PLATB 3 -

TRIANGULAR POI NTS FROM STRA TUN l

AT THE FRALINGBR SITB .

Material: local pebbl e jasper.

. 1-

N

(2) Base: Straight to slightly concave.

Size: (1 ) Length: 7/B" - 1-1/ 8" (2) Width : J/4" - 7 / P," (3) Thickness: l /t3" - 1/ 411

Proportions: About 1-1/5 times longer than wide.

Manufacture: Percussion flaking with pressure retouch.

Material: Local pebble jasper.

Frequency: J

Comment: These are local examples of the common Late Woodland triangular point, comparable to Ritchie's (1961: 'JJ-J4) Madison point type. The Fralinger specimens are rela­tively crude examples of this type , being somewhat hapha~ardly formed. Most show evidence of thermal alteration, but whether this vas intentional cannot be presently determined .

End Scrapers

Summary Description : Small, steeply retouched unifacial trianguloid scrapers.

Size: (1 ) Length: J/ 4" - 1· 1/ 4" (2) Width: 5/8" - 111

(J) Thickness: 1/4" - 7/ 16"

Manufacture : Unifacial ly chipped from small thick flakes by pressure.

Material: Local pebble jasper.

Frequency: 4

Ovate Scrapers

Summary Descr iption: Thick, crude bifacially chipped ovate scrapers.

Form: (1 ) Blade: Ovate. (2 ) Section: Lenticular to plano- convex .

Size: (1 ) Length : 1-1/2 11- 1-J/4"

(2 ) ~id tb : 7/8 11 - 1-1/~ " (J ) Thickness : J/ 811

- 1/2 11

Manufacture: Percussion flaking .

J6

Material: Local pebble jasper, quartz.

Frequency : 2

Utilized Fl akes: Seven unmodified flakes or spal ls showing edge wear from use as scraping or cutting tools were recovered from Stratum 1.

Whetstones: Two whetstones were found . These consist of slabs or portions of fine-grained sandstone rocks worn smooth on one or more faces by abrasion .

Paintstone: One small graphite paintstone show­ing rubbed and polished edges was found. This discovery provides the only evidence for orna­mentation or personal adornment found in the site, unless some of the calcined limonite nod­ules were also ground into pigment.

Pottery

Riggins Fabric-Im&ressed (Cf. McCann 1950:)15; Plate , Figs . 1, 2)

Paste: (1)

(2)

(J)

(4)

Temper: gri t and crushed quartz up to 1/8" in diameter. Texture: Compact and smooth, sometimes sandy. Hardness: 2-1/2 - 3-1/2 on the ~foh 's mineral scale wherein 1· talc, 2· gypsum, J• calcite, 4~ fluorite. Color: Buff to light gray. Interior and exterior colors often vary .

Firing : Fairly complete oxidation.

Hanufacture: Coil or fillet technique .

Surface Treatment: (1 ) Exterior: Exterior surface is marked

J7

with the impressions of a coarse wicker weavefabric , with uninterrupted impres­sions extending over large areas of the vessel. Impressions are often obliterated by smoothing. The fabric appears to have been woven from stiff, heavy warp material c. 1/ 1611 in dilameter laced wi tq finer weft threads of twisted fibers c . 1/32" in diam­eter. The warp rods are spaced at regular intervals of 5/16".

(2 ) Interior; Smooth.

Decoration: Tr ansver se or parallel cord- markings applied to t he l ip or rim. Less fre­quently , decoration includes single cord impressions or hollow reed punctations

Fo rm:

in simple linear desi~ns. Incising was done with a blunt stylus. Incised motifs include pendant t riangles , l adders, fil led X's, or nested squares. Decoration i s com­monly restricted to the neck or rim but occasionally extends down over the shoulder or even over mos t of the body.

(1) Lip: Rounded or f lattened ; often scal­loped from transverse impressions of a cord-wrapped paddle.

(2) Rim: Strai ght or slightly everted, less often incurved .

(J) Body: Conoidal, ovate or sub-globular.

(4) Base z Conoidal or slightl y rounded.

Vessel Size: (l ) Thi ckness : J/16 11 - 1/411

(2) Capacity: Varies from about one half quart to approximately four gallons.

Frequency: 27 sherds

Comparisons: Cognate f orms include: (1) Stony Creek Fabric- Impressed (Evans 1955 :71-72), (2) Windsor Fabric-Impressed (Smith 19.50: 194). (J) Abbott Fabric-Impressed (Cross 19.56:1.51).

Comment: Riggins Fabric-Impressed is a very common pottery type on Late Woodland sites i n southern New Jersey where it occur s with small triangular projectile points . On some sites it is thought to re l ate to his toric or protohistoric Indian occupa­tions (McCann 19.57 ). The Riggins ware occupies a demonstrabl y late position at t he Fr alinger site where it was associated with triangular points and objects of European manufacture. The origins of Riggins Fabr ic-Impressed may lie in Middle Wood l and t i mes as di scussed i n more detail belolf (p .l8,5), Riggins pottery has been recordea in central New Jersey (Mason 19.57: 11) and occurs at least as far North as Trenton (Cross 19.56:1.50-.51). Similarities

J8

J9

- PLATS 4 -

PO'ITERY FROM STR.~TUN 1 AT THE FRALINGER SITE .

1, 2 . Riggins Fabric Impressed.

J. Fralin~er Corded,

4. Riggins Plain,

..

in decoration with Overpeck Incised, Bowmans Brook Incised, Indian Head In­cised , and the Townsend types have been noted (Cross 1956:151). Some of the broad incising is reminiscent of ~one­incised pottery of "Hopewellian" deriv­ation at the Abbott Farm and elsewhere. Also, the similar transverse cord im­pressions on the late prehistoric Monogabela Cord- Marked potter y of south­western Pennsylvania (Dragoo 1955: 102;128) suggest more distant cultural connections than had previously been assigned to the Riggins pottery.

Riggins Plain (cr. McCann 1950: JlS-16; Plate 4, Fig . 4.)

Paste:

Firing:

Same as Riggins Fabric-I rnpressed in all characteristics.

Same as Riggins Fabric-Impressed.

Manufacture : Same as Riggins Fabric-Impressed.

Surface: (1) Bxterior: Smoothed. Some sherds bear ve ry faint fabric-impressions.

(2) Interior: Same as Riggins Fabric­Impressed .

Size: Same as Riggins Fabric-Impressed.

Frequency: 27 sherds

Comment: Riggins Plain is equivalent to Riggins Fabric-Impressed with a smoothed exterior surface. The recorded distribution places it as an indigenous type of southwestern New Jersey,

Union Lake Corded (New type; Plate 42, Figs. 6-7; Plate 4J, Figs. 1-J, ),)

Paste: (1) Temper: Grit and crushed quartz up to 1/ 411 in diameter; also , muscovite ranging in particle size from flecks of c. 1/ 64" to pieces of 9/32" in diameter •

(2) Hardness: 2-1/ 2.

40

..

(J) Texture: Coarse and porous with a gritty feel.

(4) Color: Buff or reddish tan through light gray.

Firing: Partial oxidation.

Manufacture: Coil or fillet construction. Coil breaks and irregular fracture common.

Surface Treatment:

(1) Exterior: Malleated with a cord­wrapped paddle, with impressions most often overlapping but sometimes parallel . Cord impressions tend to be oblique to th~ rim, sloping down from the right at c . 500 from the horizontal. Cord markings end at the lip. The cord can be identified from the deep impressions as double-stranded, for the most part twisted clockwise with a few examples twisted in the opposite direc­tion. Tht cord measures c. 1/ 1611 in diam­eter.

(2) Interior: Smoothed.

Decoration: None.

Form:

Size:

(1) (2) (J) (4)

Lip: Rim: Body: Base:

Rounded or less often, flattened . Thinned and slightly everted.

Ovate or conoidal. Conoidal.

(1) Thickness: (2) Capaoi ty:

1/4" - J/8". Probably 2- 4 gallons ,

Frequency: 24 sherds.

Comparisons: Cognate forms include: (1) Accokeek Cord Marked (Stephenson and Ferguson 1963: 98-100),

(2) Albemarle Cord Marked (Evans 1955:41).

(J) Exterior corded/Interior Smoothed. (Kinsey 1972: 454-55 ).

Comment: Union Lake Corded is but one of a nun,ber of similar and generally undifferentiated ce­ramic styles in New Jersey (Cross 1941:27) and in the ~liddle Atlantic States as a

41

whole (Stephenson and Ferguson 196J: 98-100) "'here it is generally attributed to an Early

..

or Middle lioodland horizon. i\'ithout doubt the use of corded conoidal pots spans a lengthy period of time and appears as a trait in a number of di ­verse cultural settings. Evidence from Stratum 1 of the Fralinger site suggests that this pottery survived to a relatively late time in southern New Jersey .

Fralinger Corded (Jew type; Plate 4, Fig . J)

Paste: (1 ) Temper: Predominantly crushed oyster shell varying is size from 1/16" to 1/4" in greatest dimension. Also present in all sherds is angular grit , sand or crushed quartz up to 1/ 1611 in diameter . A small amount of red oe hre is commonly found in particles ranging in size from barely vis­ible specks up to nodules of 1/8" in diam­eter.

(2) Hardness : 2-1/ 2. (3) Texture : Smooth but porous with a chalky feel. (4) Co lor : Buff through light earthy gray.

Firing : Thoroughly oxidi~ed: no firing clouding .

~~nufacture: Coil or fillet technique.

Surface Treatment : (1) Exterior: Haphazardly malleated with a cord-wrapped paddle. Some impressions suggest doubling or pairing of cords as in a coarse net or open fabric. The cord used to achieve this finish was two-stranded, twisted olookwi so , measuring about J/32 11 in diameter. Cord i mpressions are generally deep , but some have been obliterated by smoothing the exterior. The absence of protruding temper particles on the exterior suggests that this surface was thorou~hly smoothed or floated prior to malleation.

(2) Interior: Hand smoothed or wiped . Some shallow striations su3gest scraping with a shell or some similar i mplement. Many voids show where the shell temper bas leached or burned away. The other tempering agents are also more visible on t he interior surface.

Decoration: None known.

42

Form:

Size :

(1) Lip: (2) Rim: (J) Body: (4) Base:

Rounded or flattened. Slightly everted.

Ovate or conoidal. Conoidal,

(1) Thickness: (2) Capacity: gallons.

1/ 4" - J/ 8" Probably two to four

Comparisons: Morphological cognates include: (1) Chickahominy Cord Marked (Evans 1955 : 46). (2) Bast River- and Windsor Cord Marked (Smith 1950:192-94) . (J) Townsend series pottery (Lopez 1961) . (4) Meckley Cord ~larked (Stephenson and Ferguson 1963:105-107),

Frequency: 176 sherds.

Comment: The Fralinger Corded sherds from the type site were recovered from Stratum 1 alor.5 with small triangular points, Riggins pot­tery and historic artifacts. Similar pot­tery is known throughout southern New Jersey. Shell as a tempering agent is moderate to frequent in sites along the Delaware Bay and River from the Maurice River west to Salem Creek; the distribution is sporadic in the Mullica and Great Bgg Harbor River dr ainages (Kier , personal communication) and as far north as the Abbott Farm site (Cross 1956: 131-60) , Related types, usually classed as Early or Middle Woodland, occur widely throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.

43

Ceramic Pi pes: Two varieties of ceramic smoking pipes are in evidence at the Fralinger site. Both styles show the same paste and firinP, characteristics as the Fralinger Corded pottery. They are both smooth and undecorated. One has a simple conical bowl with a thinned lip while t he other has a cylindrical bowl with a flaring and flattened lip. Since both pipes are represented only by fragmentary bowls their overall form cannot be determined , but by analogy probably is of the obtuse-angle or elbow t ype (Ritchie 1965:295) ,

44

- PL4T& 5 -

CERAMIC SMOKINt'i PIPE:) FltOM STRATUM 1

AT THE h'RALINGEH SIT~.

N

X u

Xz o ....

Historic Artifacts

Plain Button (Plate 6)

Summary Description: A plain tombac button.

Form:

Size:

(1) Face: Plain. May have bten covered with leather or fabric.

(2) Back: Plain.

(J) Eye: The eye is cast from white­metal and fastened to the button back by a boss.

(4) Boss: Tooled boss with rough edge around eye.

(1) Diameter : 1-J/64" (slightly out of round).

(2) Thickness: 1/')2" .

Material: Tombac, a copper and zinc alloy.

Comment: This has been identified as a button of the period 1650-1750 , enjoying its great­est popularity during the early 1700's (Albert and De Angelo, personal communi­cation).

Other historic artifacts include a small bell­shaped object of extruded sheet copper, probably a bangle, and a rectangular buckle-like object of oast iron.

Artifacts from Stratum 2: The cultural re~ins from

Stratum 2 are limited for the most part to broad-bladed, square-

stemmed pro j ectile points which characterize t he Susquehanna

tradition. Also found were large spalls of argillite, quartzite,

and '~ronstone " from which the points themselves vere fashioned.

An unfinished or broken sandstone adze or celt of the chipped

variety was noted as was a small fragment of soapstone. Arti-

facts found in situ in Stratum 2 but of uncertain origin are

three small points W.ith short, broad stems. No other vestiges

46

- Pl..I\TB 6 -

TONB.l\ C BUTTON FROM STRATUM 1

1\T 'fHE FRALINGER SITE .

Upper: Face.

Lower: Reverse •

\ I i

I .

C M. C::::::..

IN. I. I I I . l I 1

CM.~

IN. I. I I I. I I i

47

- PLATE 7 -

HICKORY NUTS FRO~t TH.B FRALINGER SITE.

Upper Row: Modern specimens .

Bottom Row: Archaeological specimens

from Stratum 1.

N

-:J: u

~z-u.,....

48

- PLATE 8 -

FEATURE 1 FROM STRATUM 2 AT THB

FRALINGER SITE.

of the Archaic tool kit have been recovered to date.

Descriptions of the artifacts from Stratum 2 are

presented below.

Large Square-Stemmed Points (Pl~te 9)

Summary Description: Laree , thin broad- bladed points with ~enerally broad squarish stems .

Form:

Size:

(1) Blade: Isosceles triangular with s traicht to irregular sides. (2) Base: Straight or slir,ht l y concave. (J) Stem: Squarish or rectanguloid, usually sliehtly contractine . (4) Shoulders : Distinct and often asym­metrical, usually slopinG toward the base.

(1) Len~tb: c. 2" - 411

(2) \1idth: 1-1/211 - 1-7/8" . One exa1nple

we;s reduced by resharpening to only 7/8". (3) Thickness: 1/ 4" - J/8". Predominatel y thin, all specimens but one measure 1/ 411

in thickness.

Proportions: About 1-1/2 to 2 times as lon~ as wide as inferred from esti mated lengths of broken specimens.

?>lanufacture: ~lade on large, flat spalls by re­moving a few large flakes by means of direct percussion .

Materials : Made from predominantly non-local materials , including argillite, shale , and fine-grained quartzite. One frag­mentary example of loca l hematite-ce­mented siltstone was found.

Frequency: 6

Comment: These points are clearly related to the stemmed points of or derived from the Savdnnah River tradition , includin~

Savannah River Stemmed points in the South­east (Coe 1964:44-45) and Snook Kill (Ritchie 1961:47-48) and Koens - Crispin/ LehiJh points (Kraft 1970:72-73; Kinsey 1972:423-26) in the Northeast, although they do not correspond in all particulars with these documented types . The primary distinction is that the Fralin~er points have been rudely fashioned by striking a few broad flakes from large, flat spalls. These points have been radiocarbon dat ed

49

50

- PLATE 9 -

LARGE SQUARE-STEM?-IED POINTS FHOM

STRJ\TUM 2 AT THE FRJ\LINGER SITE.

Naterial: Argi llite.

N

to 1880 B.C .!lOO years (I-67JO) on the basis of charcoal from Feature 1.

Large Blade

Summary Description: A thick, leaf-shaped, convex­base blade.

Form:

Size:

(1) Blade: Isosoceles triangular, with excurvate sides. (2) Base: Convex.

(1) Length: 2-7/8" (2) lvid th: 1 11

(J) Thickness: J/8"

Manufacture: Percussion flaking.

Material: Cohansey quart£1te.

Comment: This specimen probably belongs with the stemmed point component in Stratum 2 but whether it is a finished artifact or a blank for a stemmed point cannot be deter­mined .

Small Short -Stemmed Points (Plate 11)

Summary Uescription: Small triangular points with short, broad stems.

Form:

Size:

(1) Blade: Equilateral triangular, with straight to slightly excurvate sides. (2) Base: Straight to somewhat irregular. (J) stem: Short, broad, rectangular or slightly expanding stem.

(1) Length: 1- 1/8" - 1-1/4" (2) ll'idth: J/4" (J) Thickness: J/16" - 1/4"

Proportions: About 1-1/2 times as long as broad.

Manufacture: Percussion.

Materia l : Local pebble jaspers and sandstone.

frequency: J

Comment: These points appear to be similar to the Late Archaic Shriver Stemmed points 1thich have a general di stribution in the North­east and Mi ddle Atlantic Sta tes (Kinsey 1972: 419-20) . The occurrence of these small

51

.52

- PUTB l Q -

CHIPPED CELT OR ADZE FRO~I STRATUM 2

AT THE FRALINGBR SITE.

Material: Cohansey quartz ite,

5J

...

- PUTE 11 -

SMALL SHORT- STEMMED POINTS FROM

STRATUM 2 AT THB FR.I\LINGBR SITE.

Material; 1. Jasper.

2. Sandstone·

(\J

points in Stratum 2 represents an un­expected divergence from tbe pattern of large square-stemmed points and may in­dicate a second,overlapping component here. Presently the data are insuffi­cient to confi rm this j uu~ement.

Chipped Adze or Celt (Plate 10)

Summary Description: A chi pped adze or celt of elon~ated trapezoi dal form .

Form:

Size:

(1) Plan: Blongated trapezoidal, widening t oward the bit. (2 ) Section : Biconvex.

(1 ) Length : 311

(2 ) Width : 1-3/ 411

D) Thickness: J/4 11

Manufacture : Percussion. Tbe bit end is broken so that no ~rinding is evident.

Material : Cohansey quartzite (sandy phase) .

Comment : Thi s object was recovered in two matching fragments f rom Stratum 2 . It is unquestion­ably an element of the Susquehanna tradi tion at the Fralin~er site. Such tools occur commonl y in Susquehanna tradition component s throughout the greater Northeast (Hawkes and Linton 1916: 73; cr·oss 1941: '87; 124; Witthoft 1953:12 ; Rit chie 1965: 153 ; 158; Kraft 1970: 99-100 ; Dincauze 1968: J4 ) .

Surface derived artifacts: Artifacts found on the sur-

face or in the disturbed recent f ill were classed as "surface

derived artifacts" and include a small side-notched point, a

classic Koens-Crispin point , and a small irregul ar ceramic

sphere ( 13/ 1611 in diameter ) , which probably represents a

remnant of pottery manufacture, but possibly was intended as

a bead (Blaker 196J: 29) or an object of amusement.

Interpretations

The Fralinger site is a stratified, two component sta­

tion that bears evidence of Late Archaic and Late 1•/oodland

habitations . The cul tural remains found here are distinct

both in stratigraphic context and in typology. To the

writer's knowledge this is the first site in southern New

Jersey to produce crystal-clear evidence of discrete mul­

tiple occupations. The excavat ion of the Fralinger site

allows not only the separate i dentification - albeit

incomplete - of the cultural assemblages pertaining to

each component but also provides the means of establishing

their relative and absolute ages. Moreover, it sheds some

new light on the subsistence resources of the Late Wood­

land inhabitants of the site.

At present the cultural manifestations at the FralinJ er

site accord liell with: those documented els~mhere along the

Atlantic seaboard at the time levels in question. The cul­

tural remains dep~sited in Stratum 1 at the Fralinger site

represent a homogeneous component on the early historic

level which is comparable, though not identical, to Late

lioodland cultures in coastal Neli York and New England (Ritchie

1965:265- 71; 1969: 227-28). Related cultural units include the

Sebonac, Bowmans Brool< and Clasons Point phases in Nel'l York

and the yet unnamed Late Wo odland phase(s) on Martha's

Vineyard, Nassachusetts. With these phases are shared

numerous cognates in mat erial culture, particularly projectile

point forms and the style, construction , and composition of

ceramic vessels. However, our meager southern Neli Jersey

55

data do not permit the definition of a discrete fralin~er

phase at the Late Woodland level so that more specific

correlation with the New York and southern New England phases

is present l y imposs i ble. Comparisons to the south alon~ t he

coastal plain are pr esently limited by the retarded state of

archaeolo~ical inquiry and reportin~ in the Mid - Atl antic

region as a whole, althoueh specific cultural connections

with that area must certainly exist and may one day prove to

be mor e direct than those presently known to the north

(Omwake and Stewart 196J; Stephenson anu Fer&uson 196)) ,

The in situ discovery of historic artifacts in un­

equivocal association with the abori~inal remains clearly

places the terminal occupation of t he site near t he end of

the 17th century, and while the absolute duration of the Late

\woodland habitation remains obscure, it is entirely poss i ble

that severa l undifferentiated occupations of the same culture ,

spanning several decades or loneer, are represented in St ra­

t um 1,

For t he moment the following may be regarded as elements

of a Late \~ood land complex: Fra li n:~er Corded , Union Lake

Corded , and Rigeins Fabric-Impressed and Plain pottery;

tobacco pipes of t wo varieties; trian~ular stone points;

trian~ular and ovate scrapers; uti l ized flakes; whetstones;

the use of J raphite for paint; and , a few items of European

manufacture, includin6 a plain tombac button and unidenti ­

fiable iron and copper objects. This lis tint is provisional

s i nce the Fralinger complex as herein defined probably in­

cludes traits of more than one l ate prehistoric phase .

·.

The exiguous remains of what once must have been a

varied tool kit suggest an orientation towards hunting as

the primary subsistence activity, and in fact , a few badly

decayed refuse bones, probably of deer, were recovered from

the humus zone. fragmentary oyster and clam shells were

also found in the undisturbed humus along with a half dozen

hickory nuts, of undetermined species. These discoveries

tand to round out the inventory of preferred comestibles,

but on the basis of current evidence, it is impossible to

determine the relative significance of any of these foods in

the diet of the aboriginal inhabitants of the .Fralinger site.

No evidence of housing has survived save fo r the chy­

rich possible living are~ of Stratum lA and a fewscattered

postmolds. It is likely that h~d the greater part of the site

not been destroyed by prior digging and erosion, some further

evidence of lodges would have come to light. Likewise da t a o~

the mortuary and .religious practices as well as the socio­

political organization of the Late Woodland Fralinger folk re­

main to be collected.

Similar obscurity surrounds the social life of the site's

earlier inhabitants whose vestiges in Stratum 2 relate to the

inchoate development of the Late Archaic Susquehanna traditioru.

The artifact inventory for this manifestation comprises broad,

square-stemmed points, the chipped adze or celt, and the use

of soapstone, presumably for bowls. An affinity to Ritchie's

(1965:134-41) Snook Kill phase and the closely related Koens­

Crispin/ L.ehigh complex (liitthoft 1953: Ritchie 196.5:1J.5;

Kinsey 1972:349-53) is self-evident.

57

While the Fralin~er artifact s show palpab~e affiliation

with these better known Susquehanna trad i tion complexes , the

stemmed points f rom this site do not class i fy readily as

holotypic speci mens in any of the established point categories.

As a rule the Fralinger examples exhibit less refined workman­

ship and rougher appearance than do the other broad stemmed

points which fact suggests the primacy of our s outhern New

Jersey.specimens . The Fralinger material dated to 1880 8~0.

is , in fact, the earliest known expression of the Susquehanna

tradition in the Northeast . Other C-14 dates for related

manifestat ions range from c. 1)00 B.C . for the Snook Kill

phase of New York State (Ritchie 1965:135) to c. 1720 B. C.

for t he Koens-Crispin/Lehigb complex in t he upper Delaware

Valley (Kinsey 1968:246; Kraft 1970:31) with an intermediate

determi nation of 1670 B.C . from the Litchfield site in New

Hampshire (Finch 1965:15; Dincauze 1968: ~2) . In the South­

east the parent Savannah River complex dat es to c . 1900 B.C.

(Coe 1965:44-4;). The Fralinger assay is t herefore signif­

icant inasmuch as it bridges what would otherwise be a

lengthy BBP in t he proposed historica l cont inuum.

The pres ence of these l ar8e projecti l e points - which

almost certainl y armed spears - at test to a subsistence e­

conomy based upon the hunt. The vas t majority of t he speci­

mens are represented only by basal fraements which indicates

that the expended weapon was brought back to camp for re­

fitting .

The pre fe rence shown for non-local ar gillites ana

;8

quartzites indicates a trade/ travel relationship oriented

towards the upper Delaware Va l ley (Lewis 1916 ) . \Yhether

the idealized artifac t design enhanced the preference for

exotic ma terials, from which la rge objects could be fashioned,

remadns to be seen.

The presence in Stratum 2 of three small short -stemmed

points is of some interest since it suggests the possibility

of a second Ar chaic component at the Fralin~er site. These

three points, which have already been likened to Shriver

Stemmed points were loca lized, both horizontally and verti ­

cally, in the deposit. Their precise cultura l and chrono­

loeical position within this site and within the regional

f r amework as a whole remains unclear and might profitably

be considered a problem for future research.

59

60

- PlATE 12 -

IJBNERI'\L VIEII' OF TII.B CAOI\'ALIIDER SITE •

Arrow indicates locus of excavation.

THB CAD~ALADBR SITB

Introduction

The Cadwalader site occupies the southwestern end of

a small, low-lying island in the salt meadow about eight­

tenths of a mile northeast of the East Point Light at the

embouchure of the Maurice River (Map 4), This unnamed

i sland is owned by the .State of New Jersey and is controlled

by the New Jersey Division of Fish, r.ame , and Shell Fisheries

as part of the Cadwalader Public Hunting and fishing Ground.

The loose, sandy, gently humnocky surface supports an often

dense growth of white cedar, wild cherry, bay berry, honey­

suckle and Indian grass.

The presence on th.is island of an Indian site - signaled

by scattered oyster shells, dark soil , and surface-derived

artifacts - was brought to the writer's attention early in

Oecember of 1971 by Perry A. Brett of Vineland, New Jersey .

A cursory surface inspection shortly thereafter confirmed the

validity of Mr. Brett's observations and further revealed the

existence of a second, somewhat disturbed, locus of aboriginal

occupation·, . about 100 yards northeast of the original finds.

A request for permission to test anu excavate on the

island was fi led in early January 1972 with the Division of

Fish, Game, and Shell Fisheries , and two months later the re­

quest was approved. Brush-clearing and systematic testing

began in the second week of April, 1972 followed bythe ex-

cavation of 15 five foot squares during the remainder of the

61

1 CADWALADER 5 I TE I J EXCAVAT 10 NS C?r:' 1972 r. ·

LEGEND

'\J VVVVV "'"v. v f\,.. - SHELL SPREA 0 ~~>r:<>oo,:~ -FIRE-BROKEN STONE ~~ ~~~-CEDAR TREES 4 BRUSH

~~''-'~'''- MODERN DISTURBANCE

I I I t I 0 . 5 10 15 20 ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

SCALE : FEET

-- - ---~----·- -·- -·- ·-·

--·-·-·-·

. rooa:::. t•__::ol

• • 0 e<fO . w•o.

t> .. ~ ~«;J ~ ·-·

'

month. The excavation yielde~ a homogeneous assembl age

of artifacts in generally undi s turbed context.

Stratigraphy

The excavations a t the C~dwa lader site failed to re-

veal the distinct, continuous cultural stratification such

as evinced a t the Fralinger site . Nevertheless , the cul -

tura l remains a t the Cadwa l ader site - including large

irregular spreads of oyster shell , r efuse , bone, and a rtifa cts

of various kinds - were found consistently in a predictable

relationship t o the recognized natural strat a .

The rela tively uncomplicated natura l stratigraphy of the

Cadwa l arler site comprises two distinct layers, vit., a con-

tinuous dark gray to nearly black sandy humus, measuring

eight t o t~elve inches i n t hi ckness , underlain to an unknown

depth by a s tratum of fine unconsolida ted yellowish dune sa nd

(Toth, personal communication ) . The artifacts and features

at the Cadwal ader site occupy an invis ible horizontal zone,

nbout one foot thick, centered nlong the s tratieraphi c inter-

face . For the most part, the shell spreads , which also

served as cultural strati graphic markers, were encountered

near the base of the humus or r es ting upon the yellow sand .

The · artifacts showed a s i milar, thoueh unJ erstanda bly greater,

vertical distribution t han the shell beds . This differential

d i s tri bution probably results f rom the i nadvertent trampling

of l oo~obj ects into the unconsolidated sand. On the other band oyster shel ls, especia l l y when interlocked en masse,

present considerable surface area and would , t herefore, not

6)

64

- PL4TE lJ -

PROFILE ,'f THE CADWAlADiR SITE SHOii!NG

CUT THROUGH .4BORrt;INAL SHiLL DEPOS IT.

be similarly displaced.

The stratigraphic profile at this station is typified

by the cross section exposed in section Bl5N5 (Plate lJ),

In this section the humus is about twelve inches thick and

is underlain by a mass of discarded oyster shells, measuring

about three inches in maximum thickness. Directly beneath

the shells occurs a light gray band of stained sand, also

about three inches thick. Underly~ng this l ayer is the

yellow sand. Artifacts, including Cadwalader Corded sherds,

chips and side-notched points of exotic materials as well as

refuse bone, occur a1nong the shells and continue sporadically

down into the yellow sand for~out three inches, Sherds of

the Heislerville Corded style occur at this level, consis­

tently beneath the shell spreads and somewhat deeper than

the other artifacts.

S,J, Toth collected soil samples during a visit to the

site in July 1972. The results of his analysis are repro­

duced below:

Sample

Humus

Yellow Sand

Organic Matter

2.791-

1.09

The relatively high pH values, indicating low soil

acidity in both strata, reflect the presence of large masses

of oyster shells as does also the abundance of exce l lently

preserved refuse bone.

Features

A total of three features vere discovered during

the Cadwalader site excavations. These include a large

bed of fire cracked cobbles (Feature 1) and two unnumbered

masses of refuse oyster shell.

Feature 1 (Plate 14): This feature vas a large plat­

form of fire-broken rocks, measuring about five by seven

and one-half feet with the long axis running north and south.

Feature 1 encompassed all of section EOSlO and the northern

half of BOS15 (Map 4). Quite by chance the east/west dimen•

sion of the excavation coincided with the width. of th~ rock

spread. The cracked and discolored rocks included in the

f eature ranged in size from one-and-one-half to six inches

in greatest dimension. their arrangement in the ground

was diffuse and without regard to plan. Considerable

sand separated the stones both horizontally and vertically.

The rocks, of which more than JSO were counted, were first

discovered in tho base of the humus .and continued to a

depth of five inches in t he yellow sand. Contents of

the feature other than rockswere negligible. Neither

charcoal nor stained soil were observed. Only a half

dozen cord-marked sherds could be attributed to the feature.

At the Stony Brook and Wading River sites , Ritchie (1959:

27; 8J) discovered similar spreads of f irebroken rock,

also notable for the absence of charcoal or stained

soil , which he interprets as baking or roasting

66

67

- PLATE 14 -

FE.nURE 1 AT THE CA DII'A LADER SITE,

areas connected with the preparation of shellfish.

Shell Spreads: The presence of several large shell

spreads on the island was indicated by surface clusters

of loose oyster shells, refuse bone, and artifacts. Two

such large irregular shell masses were excavated, the

smaller of which covered an area of approximately fifty

square feet while the larger was perhaps twice that size.

Both conformed to the contour of the original ground sur­

face and ranged in thickness from a maximum of five inches

in the center to one-half inch or less at the edges. The

masses which werv vYo~~helmingly composed of fragmentary,

whole, and sometimes paired, valves of oyster with very

rare inclusions of hard shell clam and whelk, unquestionably

represent the detritus of aboriginal oyster harvesting and

preparation.

Artifacts

The excavations at the Cadwalader site yielded a

homoBeneous lot of artifacts relating to a single Early

Woodland occupation. The artifact inventory comprises pot­

tery of two pastes, orude side-notched points, and an

assort ment of bone and antler implements. Other artifacts

clearly not pertaining to the Early Woodland horizon in­

clude scattered aborigi nal and historic relics found on the

surface and a t shallow depths in the top soil. An isolated

Rossville point of local sandstone was discovered in other­

wise sterile sand several inches beneath t he humus in section

68

.,

E5NJO, Because of its lack of associations and di stinct

differences in form and litholo~y as compared to the Early

tvoodland side- notched points, it cannot be ascri becl with

certainty to the primary occupation of the site .

The artifacts collected during our excavations at

the Cadwalader site are descri bed below.

Stone Artifacts

Cad\ialade r Si de-Notched Points (New typej Plate 1.5 , Figs . 1- 5) .

Summary Description : Side- notched points~th broad blades and expanding stems.

Form: (1) Blade : Isosceles or equilateral tri ­angular in outline with slightly exourvate sides; biconvex in cross section. (2) Base : Convex to straight . (3 ) Notches: Br oad and shallow. No tches measure about .5/16" from shoulder to base; about 1/16" to 1/8" deep. (4) Shoulders: Rounded, sloping towar d the base . (5) Stem: Expanding to approximate blade width, more or less, Stem extremities are generally r ounded with a tendency to\fard ba r bing in some specimens.

Size: (1) Length: 1" - c. 2-J/ 16" (2) \Vi dth: 5/8" - 15/16" (3) Thickness : 1/ 4" - J/8"

Proportions: Vary from c. 1-1/2 to 2-1/J times as long as broad .

Manufacture: Percussion flakin& ld th some secondary pressure retouch.

Material: Exoti c jasper , chal cedony , and chert.

Frequency: Five, including three broken specimens .

Comment: This descri ption is based upon a small sample from sites in the lower Maurice River drainage . ~~o variet ies appear to be present, viz., one relatively long and narrow, the other short and broad . Longer specimens in t he collection are

: broken and battered at the tip as thou~h used

as scrapers and strikers, Shorter examples appear to result from resharpening . Tbese points were found in direct association with the flat - bottom Cadwalader Corded pottery. Points of similar form are t>'idely distributed in New Jersey and throughout the East at the Early ivoodl and l evel usually as a minority type. They apparently survive into fUddle Woodland times. Kinsey (personal communication ) bas t entatively identifi ed the Cadwalader specimens as cognates of his generalized side­notched points of the Midd le l#oodland Bushkill complex in the upper Delaware valley. Thus far ancestralforms have not been recorded but may include an expanding-stemmed variety of Keens ­Crispin-like points or as Ritchie suggests (personal communication) the Sylvan Side­Notched for m of late Archaic age in the Hudson Valley .

Triangular Scraper

Summary Description: A thick triangular scraper.

Form: ( 1 ) Blade : Isosceles trian~ulcr . (2) Base : Convex .

Size: (1 ) Length: 1- 1/ 2" (2 ) Width: 15/ 16" ( J) Thickness: J/8"

Nanufacture: Percussion.

Material: Non-local chert .

Comment: Found directly under the Early Woodland shel l layer in a t est pit. Sides and base are dulled as though drawn over a soft or resiliant surface.

Chopper

Summary nescription: Large fragmentary plano­convex chopper.

Form:

Size:

(1 ) Blade : Oval or pyriform in plan . (2 ) Section: pl ano- convex.

(21) Length: c. 4" (estimated reconstruction)

( ) \ti dth: 1-J/ 411

(J) Thickness: J/4"

~fat erial : Cohansey quartzite.

70

71

- PLATE 1.5 -

CHIPPED STONE ARTI F.I\CTS FRON THB CAOW.I\ LA DBR SITE.

1 - .5 ·

6 - 7·

8.

Cadwal ader Side- Notched points .

Utilil.ed flakes•

Expanding stemmed point•

~!at erial:

1 - 4 , 8 . Exotic jaspers.

5· Translucent chalcedony•

6 - 7• Pebble jasper.

co

·.

Comment: A crude probable chopping or scraping tool.

Utilized Flakes (Plate 15, Figs. 6-7): Two unmod­ified jasper flakes which show use as knives or scrapers were found in the excavations.

Notched Netsinkers (Plate 18): Two flat oval sand­stone pebbles with paired rudimentary notches may have functioned as netsinkers.

Pottery

Cadwalader Corded (New type; Plate 16, Figs. 1,2,4; Plate 17)

Paste: (1 ) Temper: Lamellar fragments of oyster shell up to 9/J2 11 long; accounting for 1.5"n­JO% of the paste. Such shell temper is most commonly represented by voids due to burning or leaching , but solid shell is present in J2% of the sherds. Sand and quartz pebbles up to l / 4" in diameter are occasionally pru­ent, perhaps as native constituents of the clay. Particles of red ochre , ranging in s ize from barely visible specks up to l /8'• in dianl­eter are not uncommon.

(2) Hardness: 2 - 2-l/2.

(J) Texture: Coarse and porous. Sherds have a chalky feel and are extremely friable, espe­cially when wet,

(4) Color: Color ranees from buff to ochre red . Some sherds have dark gray to black in­teriors and cores .

Firing: Incomplete and irregular. Many sherds show fire-cloud ing anrl darkened cores and interiors, indicating incompl ete or poorly controlled oxi­dation.

Manufacture: Modeling and coilin~ . lfuile some sherds exhibit fractures alone j unctions of coils, most break irregularly and often exfoliate, sugeesting modeling as the dominant manufactur­ing method.

Surface Treatment: (1) Exterior: Completely cord-marked or mal­leated with a coarse open twined fabric com-

72

posed of double-stranded cords. twisted counterclockwise. The cords measure 1/3211

in diameter! Cord markings run in various direct ions with a t endency to be vertical. especially near the rim.

(2) Interior : Int eriors are horizontally cord­marked . Cord impressions in most cases are partially obliterated by wiping or scraping. A number of sherds were impressed with a ooarae. closed twined fabric of fine weft threads o. 3/32" in diameter and stiff warp rods o. 1/8" in diameter. Impressions of the warp seem to run vertically.

Decoration: None

Form: (1) Lip: Rounded or flattened.

(2) Rim: Thinned and nearly vertical or slightly everted .

(3) Body: Cylindrical or tub-shaped with nearly vertical to markedly out-sloping walls. One sherd from the Cadwalader Annex site bears what appears to be a rudimentary ma1111i form lug.

(4) Base: Flat and ellipsoidal or discoidal, measuring about 611 in diameter. Both interior and exterior surfaces of the base show cord im­pressions. The basal aherds are beveled be­tween 137° and 145° along the circumference. Slight vertical curvature near t he base on some body sherds would tend to bring the out-sloping walls to a more nearly upright position. Bases aro without lateral protrusion or 11heels. 11

Size : (1) Thickness: Varies from 1/2" at the base to 1/411 at the rim.

(2 ) Capacity: Probably one to four gallons.

Frequency: S82 sherds.

Comparison: Cadwalader Corded pottery shares its basic form and dominant modeled cenetruction with the following documented Barly Woodland types : (1) Fayette Thick (Webb and Baby 1957:20) . (2) Half Moon Cordmarked (Fetzer and Mayer­Oakes 1951:18-20) . (J) Ware Plain (MoCann 1950: )16-17 ). (4) Marc~ Creek Plain (Manson 1948:225) ·

It also possesses interior/ ex terior cord-marking in common with the corded pottery of coastal New York, especially: (1) Vinette 1 (Ritchi• and MacNeish 1949 :100).

73

(2) Modified Interior Cord Mar ked (Lopez 19.57:27). (J ) Unnamed interior cord-marked ceramics f rom the Jamesport and Sucar Loaf Hill sites in east ern Long Is land (Ritchie 19.59:66- 67 ) . (4) Shell-tempered "'Iinette" from ~lanhattan; and flat-bottom, shell-tempered vessel s with interior/ exterior cord markings f r om Throgs Neck (Smith 19.50 : 13.5 , 16.5, 172) ,

Comment : Clearly related to various Early lfoodland ceramic types in the Bast as noted above. The Cadwalader Corded pottery is the dominant diag­nostic artifact of the Barly liooct l and assemblage at the Cadwalader site . The presence at the Cadwalader Annex site of a single pointed basal sherd of like paste and surface t reatment sug­~~ests the coeval occurrence of conoidal vessels as part of this Ear ly Woodla nd manifestation~ -

Heislerville Corded (New type ; Plate 1~ , fig . J),

Paste: (1) Temper : Coarse quartz sand and crushed quartr. up t o 1/ 411 in diameter. Temper ac­counts for JO~ - .5~ of the paste.

(2) Hardness: 2·1/ 2 - J-1/2

(J) Texture: Coars e and dense with a gritty f eel.

(4) Color: Cons istently light tan.

Firing: Fairly thorough firing in an oxidizing at ­mosphere : limited f ire-clouding and darkened cores.

Manufacture : Made f rom coi ls or annular segments; some cleavage al ong coil junctions .

Surface Treatment : (1) Exterior : Heavily and haphazar dly mal ­leated with a cord-wrapped padd le. Cor d mark­ings t end to be oblique to the rim, int er­secting same a t 4oo , Impressions indicate the size of the mallea ting cord was c. 1/ 16" in diameter but are too indistinct to admit f ur ther description. Some exteriors are severely eroded , exposing the temper i ng material.

(2) Interior: Plain with some very faint evi­dence of smoothing or brushing . The i nt erior is quite irregular with pronounced and randomly spaced depressions as though t he cl ay were

74

75

- PLATE 16 -

RI.M SHERDS FROM THE CA DltALA l)JiH SITE•

1, 2, 4. Cadwalader Co rded .

J, Heislerville Corded,

z -

76

'

- PLATS 17 -

CA 0\iALA DBR CORDED SHERDS FROM THE

CADliALADER SITE ,

1 . Basal sberd (eiterior) ,

2. Rim sberd (exterior) •

J. Basal sherrl (interior) •

4. Rim sherd (interior) ,

z -

77

..

- PLATE 18 -

PROBABLE NOTCHED NETSINKERS FROM

THE CADI¥ALADER SITE •

.. .,

LO

N

N

manually kneaded during cons t ruction with no subsequent effort made to even the in­terior surface.

Decoration: None .

Form: (l) Lip : Rounded.

Size:

(2 ) Rim: Not thinned ; very slightly everted. (J) Body: Indetertoinate; probably cylindrical or tub-shaped. (4) Base: Indeterminate; probably flat or fla ttened.

(1) Thickness: (2) Capacity:

.5/16 11 - J/8"

Indeterminate.

Frequency: 80 sherds.

Comparisons: The closest counterpart is the unnamed cord- marked , crushed-stone. tempered anu flat­bottom pottery from the ware site, Salem County, New J ersey (McCann 19SO: Jl7).

Comment : Part of the Early ltoodland assemblage a t the Cadwalader site. It occurs consistently deeper than the Cadwalader Corded pottery , thus demon­strating a slight temporal priority. The gen­eral cultural and chronological connections are shared with the Cadwalader Corded pottery .

Bone and Antler Implements (Pla t e 19): Three frag-

men tary bone or antler awls or needles were recovered from the

Early Woodland shell spreads. A conical antler projectile

point tip and median section were also found as was a grooved

and broken antler tine. Three complete examples of the bone

and ant ler indus try include a spa tula t e bone t ool, a birli bone

splinter awl, nnd a deer antler netting needle.

Spatulate Bone Tool (Plate 19, Fig . 5)

Summary Descripcion: A small spa tula te bone tool.

~ize: (1) Length: 1-.5/8" (2) lii dth: 1/ 2" (J) Thickness : 1/ 4"

Comment : A small tool with blunted edg e sugges t ing use as a rubbing or scraping ins trument .

78

79

- PLATE 19 -

BONE 1\ ND ANTLER A RTIF.~ CTS FRO~! THE

CA Dii'A U\ DER SITE,

1. Antler netting needle .

2 - 4. Bone splinter awls.

5· Spatulate bone tool •

6. Cut antler tine .

.. ,

I

~ . ,{.. . . ... .. ) . -~~ .......... J~!' . -~-;.. • .... '· . -~~ ~ -~ .... ., . . . ~ " " . . ;, . ~· ;"_.. • ;., t... ... ' ....... ""' ~t··.·· .• 1;(1 •r . ··. .·'. "

'1ft. t. . ( .. . ·~··~ .......... ' ~, .... ....,. ., . '• .$ =-~'\.'\- • ,. ; ... l~~ ·,. . .,_. ' ~ 1 . ~;~,,,~ ~- :. ... -~ .. r---- .,. ·. . .

L()

N

Bird Bone Awl (Plate 19, Fig. 2).

Sum~~~ary Description: A small bird bone splinter awl.

Size: (1) Length: 1-1/2" (2) h'idth: 1/4 11

(J) Thickness: l / 1611

Comment: A single splint ered bird bone, utilized as an awl.

Antler Netting Needle (Plate 19, Fig . 1).

Summary Description: A tapered and flattened netting needle, perforated and notched a t the base.

Form: (1) Point: (2) Blade: (J) Base: through an polished.

Conical. Flattened.

Perforated and apparently broken old perforation. Base is highly

She: (1) Length: J-S/16 11

(2) lii dtb: J/ 811

(J) Thickness: 1/4 11

Comment : Fashioned fr om ~ split antler. The entire surface is smoothed and shows striations from the forming process or from use. The base is polished, apparently from use. Probable func­tion; netting needle .

Historic Artifacts (Plate 20): A scattering of historic

ar t ifacts appeared on tbe surface and in the upper levels of

the humus at the site. These artifacts comprising a gunflint,

unidentifiable copper and iron scraps, and sherds of slipvare

vessels apparently relate to european occupation (s) of the

area in the middle to l ate 18th century.

Faunal Remains

Because of the relatively low soil acidity occasioned by

the presence of the large shell masses, refuse bone was well

preserved and quite abundant . All osseous :naterial collec ted

during the excava tion was submitted for i dentification and

80

81

- PL4TE 20 -

HISTORIC ARTIFACTS FROM THE CAD\f.l\l.ADER SITE .

1. Gunflint of French flint.

2 - J, Red and yellow sli pware sherds ,

.,

N

analysis to Richard s . h'bite, Jr. of Temple University in

Philadelphia, PennsylYania. !-Jr, lihite's report is appended

below.

FAUNAL REMAINS FROM THE CADII'AI..ADBR SITB

Richard s. White. Jr . Anthropology Department

Temple University

All bone submitted was first cleaned and inked with a

provenience number. The bone was then sorted into gross

taxonomic groupings without reference to the compara tive

collection; then each group vas determined more careful l y

wi th the aid of the literature and a comparative collection.

Two methods of computing the minimu•o number of indhid-

uals represented by a given number of fragments have been

used here. The fi r st number of individual• (HNI) is given

by the frequency of the most commonly found bone. Thus . if

at a given site 23 right humeri of the deer were found as

the most common bone from that animal. then 2J would be

listed as the MNI. This method was felt to yield too low a

MNI since the excavation units were spread over a considerable

area,and were not contiguous. Therefore, a s econd method of

computing the MNI was selected, this time oonsiderin~ each

separate excavation unit as a separate analytical unit! This

time the MNI for each square was computed, then the MNis for

all the squares were added together to arrive at the MNI for

the site. This method probabl y gives a much more accurate

estimate of the minimum number of individuals, especially of

smallor animals, and especially where there seems~ have been

horizon tal clustering of occupation as is t he case at the

82

Cadwalader site. In any case, both estimates are presented .

In addition, a corrected version of t he second estimate has

also been presented, one whicn corrects for sex, age and size

differences as well. Osing the most frequently found bone to

estimate the MNI assumes that in the case of a paired bone,

all the bones representing the side (right or left) with the

lesser number of occurrences are paired with their mate on the

opposite side. ll'hen this was obviously not so, I have cor-

rected the MNI accordingly.

Faunal lists and notes:

Reptilia:

Turtles constituted a major source of animal protein for

the inhabitants of tbe Cadwalader site. They equal in fre-

quency, but not in amount of meat represented , the white-

tailetl deer.

Three species of turtle were identified. They were the

Northern Diamondback Terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin terrapin),

the Common Mud Turtle (Kinosternon subrubrum subrubrum), and

the Common Box Turtle (Terrepene carolina carolina) .

Species

Malaclemys terrapin Kinoaternon subrubrum Terrepene carolina

Malaolemys terrapin Kinosternon subrubrum Terrepene carolina

No. of Bones Minimum No. of Individuals Method 1 Hethod 2 Corrected

182 J 6

2 1 1

13 2 J

Percentage Total of Corrected MNI

75 10 15

15 2 J

Turtle remains f rom the Cadwalade r site .

84

All three of the above species are active from about

April to about September or October, when they hibernate. It

seems likely that they were not exploited as a food source

during the winter months, since gathering them would have

necessitated digging them from near-frozen mud, in very cold

water.

Both the mud turtle and the terrapin are commonly found

in salt marsh areas such as that surrounding the site today;

they are, however , not nearly so abundant as formerly , due to

overexploitation during the early part of this century. The

box turtle is much more terrestrial, and was probably taken a

short distance inland from the site, where fresh water is bor-

dered by open woodland. All three species can be found near

the site today.

Mammalia:

The white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) was the

most commonly recovered animal at the site. The bones repre-

sent at least 1400 pounds of edible meat, the minimum number

of individuals being 14. Deer of all ages are represented in

the collection; most seem to have been taken in the late summer ,

fall and winter.

Number of bones identified ••••••••••••• 27 Number of teeth identified ••••••••••••• 27 KNI, based on teeth ••• , •• •• , •• , ••••• ••• 14 Corrected MNI •••••••••••••••••••••••••• 18

Deer remains from the Cadwalader site.

Deer bone and antler were used for a number of the tools

recovered f r om the site. Deer antler was used for making

awls, perforators and a needle. Deer long-bone splinters

were used for making awls and perforators.

Other mammals represented at the Cadwal ader site a re

the beaver (Castor fiber ) . the domestic dog (Canis familhris) 1

the grey fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus), the skunk (Mephitis

mephitis), and an unidentified rodent probably not used as a

source of food. All of these animals could have been taken at

any time during t he year, and therefore provide no evidence of

a seasonal occupation of the site.

~:

At least three species of birds are represented by the

bones from the Cadwalader site. Although these have not been

specifically i dentified , t hey are all l arger migratory water­

f owl. This would suggest a fall and spring occupation of the

site. At least 23 individuals are represented , constituting

a major part of the meat protein intake of the inhabitants of

Cadwalade r site.

Pisces:

Only three bones identified as f rom fish were recovered

at the site, and none was i dentifiable as to the species repre­

sented, Fish seemes to have been of minor importance in t he

diet.

Conclusions:

The inhabitants of the Cadwalader site obtained an

appreci able part of their diet f rom shellfish, birds, mammals

and reptiles f r om the i mmediate vicinity of the site. The

area then was much the same environmentally as it i s today .

Shellfish may have formed the major portion of the diet

by volume, but due to its relatively low caloric value, was

exceeded in importance by other meat proteins, notably deer,

turtle and birds. Turtle meat is very rich in fats and oils

and is therefore of higher caloric and nutritional value than

shellfish: deer meat and bird meat are likewise richer than

is shellfish meat. Other animal foods were sometimes eaten,

such as beaver, dog and fox; but they were not important

staples in the diet.

The evidence from the Cadwalader site suggests that

the site was occupied during ~ost of the year; if any

abandonment occurred , it must have been during the dead of

winter, when the inhabitants may have moved out of the

bitter cold salt marshes and into the pine woods where more

deer would have been available , as well as better protection

from celd winter winds.

Interpretations

The Cadwalader site is a small coastal station prob­

ably relating to seasonal occupation by a single Early

Woodland population . The excavation of this closed com­

ponent yielded a small assemblage of typical Early lvoodland

artifacts which forms the oore of the Cadwalader complex,

viz., flat-bottom Cadwalader Corded and Heislerville Corded

pottery, broad side-notched points , the plano-convex

chopper, the small triangular scraper, utilized flakes , and

notched netsinkers, bone awls, and conical projectile points

86

and a netting needle of antler. Other consonant material

t raits were add ed to this complex as a result of our excava­

tion of the Cadwalader Annex site and an examination of the

archaeological collection fro~ the Bast Point site.

The expected appearance of the Cadwalader complex about

750 B.C. is contradicted by the sole C-14 age determination

from this site. The date of 940 A.D.t 95 years (I-67Jl) , re­

sulting from the analys!e of a refus e bone sample, is deemed

far too recent to apply to the Cadwalader complex. The ab­

sence of a more recent occupation here precludes the possi­

bility that this date might pertain to a later culture. The

causes for this excessive discrepancy are unclear, but the

skewing of the results toward a more modern estimate suggests

the possibility of sample contamination.

In any case the Cadwalader assemblage has many traits

linking it to an Barly Wo odland position both in culture and

chronology. The ceramics in particular clearly belong to a

class of early flat-bottom wares found throughout the East.

As explained anon in greater detail the Cadwalader pottery

seems to arise from the coalescence of the two predominant

Barly Woodland ceramic traditions in the Northeast, namely,

the Marcey Creek and the Vinette 1 traditions, both of which

first appear about 1000 B.C. (Ritchie 1969:85-86; Gardner and

McNett 1971 :4J) .

The Early ~oodland position of the Cadwalader assemblage

is further illustrated by the presence of broad- bladed , side­

notched points of a nondescript s tyle which is widely distri-

87

buted throughout the East during Early Woodland times although

its significance as a cultural or chronological marker has

often been overlooked .

The presence of these small points attests to the ,

importance of hunting in the food quest of the Cadwalader

people as does perhaps even more clearly, the abundance of

bone refuse in the midden deposits. The fact that turtles

and waterfowl were taken in some numbers in addition to deer

implies that hunting involved also the use of nets, snares,

or other traps or simply the fortuitous collection of avail­

able creatures. It is interesting to note the presence of

the domestic dog which probably served as a camp scavenger,

possibly as a hunter's companion, and evidently as food.

Ga thering eggs, seeds, and berries in season was undoubtedly

a common practice although no archaeological evidence to

this effect has survived. The seemingly negligible role of

fishing in the lives of these riparian folk is an enigma

which cannot be adequately accounted for with the data at

hand.

The extensive midden deposits of refuse oyster shell

are not unexpected features of this coastal site. The

apparent preference for oysters in the s~ spreads, to the

virtual exclusion of other molluscs, indicates a pattern of

differential collection based upon the natural distribution

of oysters in the lower river and bay. Since oyster

require relatively fresh water, they can be harvested nearby

in th~ river and bay, whereas the collection of clams would

88

require a journey of ten or more miles under present condi­

tions. Moreover, a decline in sea level of even a few feet

would cause the shoreline of the relatively shallow Delaware

Bay to migrate several miles seaward from its present location,

hence, greatly magnifying the difficulty of gathering clams

(Cf. Stuiver and Uadda rio 196J; Shepard 1964; Newman and

Rusnak 196,5).

The large masses of oyster shells have tended to

neutralize the soil acidity, and this condition has proven

favorable to the preservation of bone and antler implements,

from which can be inferred some of the activities of their

makers and users . The discovery of the cut antler tine and

a conical antler projectile point provides further evidence

of hunting while bone awls suggest the manufacture of hide

clothing and ski~ or bark containers or shelters. Nets,

probably for fishing, we~• doubtless made with the aid

of large needles such as the one illustrated in Plate 19.

In addition the possession of cord and coarse fabric is

demonstrated by the impressions recorded on ceramic vessels.

Beyond this very incompleto reconstruct ion of a

simple material culture and some basic economic activities,

little can be said of the aboriginal inh~bitants of the

Cadwalader site. It seems most likely that they compri sed

nuclear or small extended family groups whose visits to t he

site were limited to the warm months when oysters and

various other creatures such as turtles could be conveniently

harvested. The site would not lend itself to winter occupa-

89

tion because of its exposed situation in the salt marsh and

the lack of collectable subsistence commodities at that time

of year. Undoubtedly the aboriginal Cadwalader people

weathered the wint er months in the sheltered wooded knolls

upstream along the river as at Indian Head where their

scattered vestiges have also been recorded.

90

THE CADI¥ALAOBR ANNEX SITE

Introduction

The Cadwalader Annex site is part of the Cadwalader

Public Hunting and Fishing Ground. The excavations here

were pursuant to the agreement previously made with the

New Jersey Division of Fish, Game, and Shell Fisheries as

regards the Cadwalader site.

The site occupies a low eminence on the southern tip

of the upland land mass bordering t he salt meadow about

two miles northeast of the lighthouse at East Point (~p 5).

The surface of the site is generally similar to that described

for the Cadwalader site (p. 61 ), The site, when first ex­

plored, was covered by white cedar, poison ivy, and Indian

grass.

In its natural state the site probably encompassed a

minimum of ten thousand square feet. Presently, both the

East Point-Heislerville Road and a drainage ditch transect

the site, and owing to these modern disturbances, the work­

able area of the site has been much reduced . The presence

of the drainage ditch in particular caused problems for

excavation since the ditch allowed the ready infiltration of

water from the adjacent meadow. At times of exceptionally

high tide the site was flooded within a few inches of the

surface.

Perry Brett discovered the site in April of 1972 and

testing later that month revealed the possibility of defining

at least two undisturbed buried components. The excavation

91

----·------------------ - -..

EAST PO tNT- HE ISLE.RV I LLE ROA.O

I . I

•

=

DITCH

ICADWALADER _ AN.NEX SJTEI l -t EXCAVAT 10 NS or 1972 ~ r

LEGEND

~"}/~ - SHELL SPREAD Vv#>V

® -FEATURE

I I I m s 10 15 20 I II I I I II I I I I t I I I I I I It

SCALE : FEET

of the site was conducted intermittently during the period

of April to July 1972 because of inclement weather and con­

condtant inundation. In all more than 24 five-foot sections

were excavated.

Stratigraphy

The natural stratigraphy at the Oadwalader Annex site

duplicates in all essential particulars the soil profile at

the Cadwalader site, i.e., a narro~ humus band underlain by

yellow dune sand (Plate 21) .

Again, the tests of soil chemistry were performed by

S.J. Toth whose f indings are reporteu below:

Sanrple

Humus

Yellow Sand

P!!

4.3

6.0

Organic Hatter

,5 .04%

0.14

The soil samples indicate a somewhat greater acidity

here than at the Cadwalader site, and this unexplained

difference is noticeable in the relative lack of well pre­

served refuse bone.

The material excavated f rom the Cadwalader Annex site

duplicates the Barly l~oodland assemblage from tbe Cadwalader

site and adds information on two di stinct Late Archaic com­

ponents as briefly recapitulated in the following par agraphs.

In the upper humus and on the surface occurred a scatter­

ing of Riggins Fabric Impressed sherds and modern artifacts,

providing scant evidence of infrequent, non-intensivo visita­

tion by Late \food l and aboriginal and modern groups.

The predominant occupation is attributable to the same

9J

94

- PLATE 21 -

PROFILE AT THE CAO\fALADER ANNBX SITB SHOWING

CUT THROUGH ABORIGINAL SHELL DEPOSIT,

Note how shel l deposit follows natural

hummocky ground surface .

Early \\'oodland people whose vestiges were recovered at the

Cadwalader site . The Early Woodland remains at the Cadwalader

Annex site inolude crude f lat-bottom and conoidal ceramic

vessels ; broad-bladed, side-notched points; refuse bone;

and irregular spreads of oyster shell .

Beneath these shell beds and vertically separated from

them by a few inches of virtually sterile sand are found

small contracting-stemmed projectile points confirmed by

Ritchie (personal communication) as examples of the Rossville

type. These points occur without associated artifacts save

for an occasional sherd, apparently intrusive from above .

Deeper than the Rossville points are square-stemmed

points resembling the Bare Island type. The implications of

these discoveries and their placement within the site will

be discussed l ater on.

Features

A surface inspection of the site indicated the presence

of at least five large shell spreads, three of which were

completely explored. These unddsignat~d f eatures correspond

in all respects to the shell middens on the Cadwalader site

(p . 68 ), Two other features, receiving specific des i gnations,

were also encountered.

Feature 1 was discovered in section Bl 0515 and extended

par t way into El5Sl5. It apnears to have been a pit or other

ancient disturbance of irregular shape in plan and basin­

shaped in cross section. The approxi mate size vas two feet

by one and one-half f eet with the long axi s running east and

9.5

west. The overall depth from the orifice at the base of

the humus measured about six inches. The fill graded almost

imperceptibly in color from yellow at the perimeter to cocoa­

brolm in the center. A second disturbance , circular in out­

line and measuring about ten inches in diameter , appeared in

the oenter of the feature . Throughout the pit were found

fragmentary oyster shells, a few small pieces of wood char­

coal, and tiny sherds of the soft, red Cadwalader Corded pot­

tery. The function of this feature is unknown unless, perhaps,

it served as a small hearth.

Feature 2 proved to be a small circular pit about 23

inches in oral diameter, opening about six inches beneath the

humus in section soss. The walls sloped gently inward to a

flat bottom about 20 inches· in diameter. The maximum depth

from orifice to bottom was five inches. It is possible that

this pit was originally deeper but that the upper portion was

truncated before being recognized, since the fill was only

slightly darker than the surrounding subsoil. The fill con­

tained only a few Cadwalader Corded sherds and fragmentary

oyster shells. The artifacts discovered during our investi­

gations are described below.

Artifacts

Stone Artifacts

Two side-notched points comparable in form, cultural

affinity and chronological placement to those at the Cadwalader

site (p . 69 ) were found in the shell masses at the Cadwalader

Annex site along with two scraping tools of jaspor and quartz

96

chips, and a crudely chipped shale obj ect of unknown function.

Beneath t hem occu~ the Rossville points , and deeper still,

t he two Bare Island points referred to above .

Rossville Points (cr. Ritchie 1961:46; Plate 22, Figs. 4-7).

Summary Description : Small, narrow points with contracting stems.

Form: (l ) Blade: Isosceles triangular in out­line; lenticular to biconvex in cross section. (2) Base: Rounded or pointed . (J) Shoulders : Rudimentary to well defined. (4) Stem: Small contracting stem, roughly equilateral triangular in f orm, terminating in a rounded or pointed base .

Size: (1) Length : 111 - l -l/ 2"

(2 ) Wi dth: 9/ 16" - J/4" {J) Thickness: l / 4" - J/8"

Proportions : About l·J/4 t o 2 times as long as wide, Stem accounts f or l / 4 t o l / 6 of the overall length.

Manufacture : Percussion flaking .

Material : Local chert, quartzite and jasper.

frequency: 4

Comment: This point style represents t he local adaptation of the Possville point (cr. Ritchie 1961 :46) . The principle difference is in the generally smaller s ize of the Maurice River specimens4 a l so theclassic "lozenge-shaped" form is rare her e. These points occur in a pre-cerami c or very early ceramic context at t he Cadwal ader Annex site where they are found s everal inches deeper than t he pottery. A f ew sherds have been f ound as deep as the Rossville points , but without convincing associ ations. The Ross­ville points are superimposed upon Bare Island points. Similar cont racting-s temmed points are found from New Engl and at least to coastal Virginia and perhaps~rther south,

97

98

- PLATE 22 -

CHIPPED STONE ARTIFACTS FROM THE

CA DivALADEH ANNEX SITE,

1 - J. Cadwalader Side- Notched points .

2. Number 2 modified for scraping ,

4 - 7• Rossville points~

8, 10 . Bare Island points .

9· Side scraper,

Naterial:

1 , J. 2 .

4 - 6. 7· 8. 9·

10.

Exotic jasper , Exotic chalcedony· Local pebble jasper . Cohansey quart~ite ,

Shale . Chert ( 1) . Argillite ,

~

.;.-

"

4,• ~ti

• ' ... J . _.;.c

2 3

4 5 6 7

CH. ""--

I N. I ' I ' I I I I i 10

99

. ,

- PLATE 23 -

CAD\vAl.ADER CORDED SHBRDS FROM THE

CADivALADER ANNEX SITE.

1 - 2. Exterior.

3 - 4. Interior •

. ..,.

• 2: u

• z -

..

Antecedent types are as yet unrecognized in context but probably include the mor­phologically similar Poplar Island point.

Bare Island Points (Of. Ritchie 1961:14-15; Plate 22, Figs . 8,10).

Summary Desoription: Large, narrow, square­stemmed points.

Form: (1) Blade: Isosceles triangular in out­line; biconvex to oval in cross section . (2) Base: Square to rectangular.

Size: (1) Length: 2-1/4 11 - J 11

(2) Width: J/4" - 1" (J) Thickness: S/1611 - 1/211

Proportions: About three times as long as wide.

Manufacture: Percussion flaking.

Material: Argillite and shale.

Frequency: 2

Comment: These two points fall within the r ange of variation of Bare Island points (Ritchie 1961:14-15) and would seem to indicate a distinct Late Archaic component relating to the Bare Island complex (Kinsey 1959:129).

lfue tstone (Plate 24, Fig. 2).

Summary Description: A small, f lat, rectanguloid pebble of schistose sandstone with a broad, deep, abradeu trough.

Size (1) Length: 1-J/4" (2) Width: 1-1/411

(J) Thickness: J/8"

Comment: A sharpening stone for an object with a relatively broad, flat bit.

Mulling Stone (Plate 24 1 Fig . J),

Summary Description: A flat, pyriform cobble showing abrasion on the basal and apical edges,

Size: (1) Length: J-1/2 11

(2) \iidth: J" (J) Thickness: 1-1/4"

100

101

- PLATE 24 -

ROUGH STONB ARTIFACTS FROM THE

CADIYA lADER ANNSX SITE,

1. Chipped object of unknown function.

2 . Pebble whetstone.

J , Nulling stone . Note abraded basal anrt

apical surfaces.

ioia t eria 1 :

1. Shale.

2 . Schistose sandstone .

J . Sandstone,

N . l: u

• z -

Comment: The object sho~oonsiderable wear re­sulting from apparently long use as a pounding instrument, possibly in preparin~ crushed shell as pottery temper.

Bone and Antler Tools

Antler Flaker: Owing in part to the lower pH (more

acid) soil conditions of the Cadwalader Annex soil , organic

preservation did not equal that at the Cadwalader site and

only one recognized antler tool survived . This implement is

a rather large, naturally shed deer antler, unmodified ex-

cept for battering on the extreme proximal end as a result of

use as a baton for percussion flaking of flint (White, personal

communication).

Shell Tools

Shell Scrapers {Plate 25): The use of shell scrapers

was brought to light as a result of the investigations at t he

Cadwalader Annex site. All three such tools are fashioned

from fragmentary valves of the hard shell clam (Mercenaria

mercenaria). Their edges are notched and striated from use

as scraping tools . These specimens were recovered from the

largest excavated shell spread at the site and are, therefore,

considered as traits of the Early lvoodland Cadwalader mani-

festation.

102

103

- PL~TE 25 -

CL" i-1 SHELL TOOLS FRON THE CA !WA LADER

1\NNEX SITE.

Note notched and striated edges.

N

.,

Faunal Remains

The faunal remains collected at the Cadwalader Annex

site show no qualitative difference from those of the

Cadwalader site, nor is any difference to be expected since

the surviving refuse accumulations in both instances are

attributable to the same Early lroodland group. The inferences

regarding food preferences and seasonality of occupation at

the Cadwalader site obtain equally as well here.

Interpretations

The cultural remains at the Cadwalader Annex site repre­

sent warm weather habitations, apparently by four distinct

aboriginal groups whose occupations of the site were inde­

pendent and temporally disparate events.

The most recent aboriginal visitors to the Cadwalader

Annex site \'lere bearers of the Late lioodland Riggins Fabric­

Impressed pottery which was found in a thin surface scatter

on the site . The dominant occupation was by the same Early

Woodland group whose artifacts were recovered from the shell

spreads at the Cadwalader site. The significance of their

vestiges has already been assessed (pp.86- 90 ) •

The Early \ioodland use of the site \~as preceded by two

Late Archaic occupations, represented solely by t heir dis­

tinctive projectile points. The later of these two occupa­

tions is marked by the presence of four Rossville points, all

of local materials, within the 911 - 14 11 depth range at the

104

site. The points were found in i s olat ion, without clear

associations.

Tho Rossville point type has been recorded as an ele-

ment in the Barly l~oodland manifestations on Martha's Vineyard

in association with Lagoon points, crude side-notched points

and Vinette 1 pottery (Ritchi e 1969:22) ), A similar context

for Rossville points is expressed in Kinsey's (1972:J64-69)

Middle Woodland Bushkill complex in the upper Delaware valley.

In this complex are included Rossvi lle, Lagoon, and generalized

side-notched points along with Vinette 1 and other pottery.

However, at the Cadwalader Annex site the Rossville points

do not seem to fall into this kind of configuration. On

the one hand the vertical separation of the Rossville points

from the superincumbent Early Woodland material suggests in­

dependent origins, and on the other the lithic proforoncos

of the two are at marked variance. All of the Cadwalader

Annex Rossville points were manufactured from locally avail­

able jaspers or quartzite while the side-notched points were

fashioned from exotic materials. Moreover, this distinction

obtains in all collections from the ~~urice River drainage,

Thus the inclusion of the Rossville point s in a conglomerated

complex does not seem warranted here. The scant evidence

points rather to their status as a separate and prior entity .

It may well be that the RossTille points enjoy an early

emergence in southern New Jersey as a result of their rela­

tive proximity to the suspected point of origin in the

Chesapeake Bay area (Ritchie 1961:46 ), but thi s postulation

105

remains t o be adequately tes ted.

The discovery of two Bare Island points beneath the

Rossville horizon s uggests the presence of a s econd Late

Archaic component. Certainly the artifacts are di s tinct

in form and material, but the da ta a re insufficient f or an

in-depth evaluation of these finds. Some relationship to

Kinsey's (1959) Bare Island complex or the more inclusive

Delaware Valley Archaic complex (Kinsey 1972:JJ7 ) is suspected.

Such placement would he culturally and chronologically conso­

nant with the gther Cadwalader Annex finds, although grounded

more in intuition at this point . than in observable fact.

106

..

PREVIOUSLY IKVESTIGATED SITES

In order to supplement the data derived from the primary

research just described, the records relating to a number of

previously investiga ted Maurice River sites are examined be­

lo,~. Two of the sites , East Point and Indian Head, were ex­

cavated as projects of the Indian Site Survey in 1939-40

(Cross 1941:41-47)• The following repor ts or these sites

are baseo 1n part on Cross ' s accounts and also upon recent

examination or the pertinent collections in the New Jersey

State Museum in Trenton, N. J. l~bere d.~.screpancy arises

between the excavation records and the existing collections -

especially with respect to the descriptive and quantitative

aspects of the artifacts - the collections are taken as cor­

rect.

Recent discoveries relating to four loci of aboriginal

habitation, brought to light at Union La.l<e (Nounar l 'i7"-l,

and the synthesis of data from these sites will also be in­

cluded in the present review.

The artifacts from these various collections can be

cautiously used to considerable advantage as evidence for

f illing the gaps in the postulated cultural sequence and for

plotting the distributions of kno\m traits. Unfortunately,

the founda tions of such evidence rest more in t ypological

considerations than in firm stratigraphic context , and the

inadequate provenience da ta serve to inhibit the ability to

def!ne or correlate significant cultur al phases or to incor­

porate single elements into relevant complexes.

107

Luckily, the artifacts are often of sufficiently di s ­

tinctive form to allow their placement, with some certainty,

within relatively res tricted cultural and chronological

limits on the basis of typology . The hazards of this approach

are well kno'm and only reluctantly resorted to in this in­

stance. However , it is hoped that this restrained use of

typological comparison will result in n fuller and more lucid

picture of the prehistoric cultural rtevolopments here than

would otherwise be possibl~.

108

. ,

I ntroduction

THE EAST POINT SITE

(cr. Cross 1941:41-44)

The East Point site i s located on Donnelly I sland , a

small stabilized sand dune, situated in the salt rneadol\'

about 800 feet north of t he Dela1~are Bay (1-iap 1). The

site was f irs t discovered in April\ 1939 when l'iorkmen exca­

vating a road cut through the i s l and i nadvertently exposed

four human skeletons. The Indian Site Survey excavated at

the site on two s eparate days in April ancl ~Iay ,l9J9 and

opened an area of 1,650 square f eet (Plate 27) ,

Stratigraphy

The Indian Site Survey explorations di sc l os ed a laye.r

of black humus averaRin~ fi f t een inches thick, underlain by

a lieht yellol\f sand. This profile i s comparable to the

s equence of strata already out lined fo r the nearby Cadwal~rler

and Cadlialacler Annex sit es .

Features

109

Cross records a total of five large refuse- and charcoal­

filled pits averaging about six feet in di ameter by four f eet

deep. All of the pits apparently opened from the humus and

three contained pottery in add i t i on to oyster shell and ani ma l

bones •

The sole remainin~ feature unearthed in t he Indian Site

Survey excavat ions comprises several fragments of a sin~le

human cranium. As with t he four burials previously not ed ,

llO

- PLATE 26 -

GENERA L VIE it OF THB EAST POINT SITS ,

(Nel'i Jersey State Museum photograph) •

..

111

..

- PLATE 27 -

INDIAN SITB SURVEY EXCAV.~TIONS AT

THE EAST POINT SITB . 19)9,

(New Jersey State Museum photograph)

112

data are lacldng wi th respect t o the pr ovenience and the arti-

facts , if any , associated with this inhumation. There is no

record of a grave foss a or poss ible mode of interment .

Ar tifacts

The cul tural remains from the East Point site manifest a

cl ose .relationship to the assemblages from the nei ghboring Cad-

walader and Cadwal ader Annex sites. Unfortunately, while the

absolute horizontal and vertical position of the East Point

artifacts was recorded , their exact provenience relative to

specific strata was not noted, and the inter-site correlation

of components is thereby hindered . The relationships as sug-

gested by the artifacts are expl icated below (pp . 116- 18) .

Stone Artifacts

The inventory of stone artifacts from the Eas t Point site

as classified by the writer is presented in tabular form bel ow:

Projectile Points f Triangular 4 Orient Fishtail l Susquehanna Broad l Rossville 2 Preforms/ broken 8

Drills

~lodified Rossville Pt. 1

SoraEers

End scraper l Utilized flakes 2

Rough Stone Ful l grooved axe l Pecked roller pestle 1 Unpitted hammerstones 2 Notched netsinker 1

Polished Stone

Rectanguloid gorget 1

llJ

- PLATE 28 -

STONE A RTIF11 CTS Fll0?-1 THB EAST POINT SITS.

1, J ,

2.

4.

s. 6.

7, 9·

8.

10.

11.

Triangular points.

Triangular end scraper.

Susquehanna Broad point.

Orient Fishtail point.

Fragmentary stemmed pr notched point.

Rossville po ints.

~lodifi ed Rossville point drill.

Fragmentary gor get.

Notched netsinker .

Naterial:

1 - J. Chert. 4 - 5. Cohansey quarttite.

7. Quartz. 8 - 9. Local pebble jasper.

10. Red slate. 11. Sandstone.

Pottery

The following ceramic types are represented in the

Bast Point collection :

~ f - sherds

Riggins Fabric Impressed J9 Riggins Plain 5 Fralinger Corded 15 Cadwalader Corded lOJ Heislerville Corded 4J Vinette 1 l J Marcey Creek Plain 4

In addition the following heretofore undefined forms

were noted in examing the collection.

Coarse Fabric I mpressed

Paste: . (1) Temper: Small shell particles up to 1/ 1611

in diameter and red ochre up to 1/8" in diameter. (2) Hardness: 2 (J) Texture: Coarse and porous, with a chalky feel. (4) Color: Pale earthy yellow.

Firing: Incomplete oxidation.

Manufacture: Coiling.

Surface Treatment: (1 ) Exterior: Impressed with a coarse open twined fabric. (2) Interior: SBoothed.

Decoration: None.

Form: Indeterminate.

Size : (1) Thickness : (2) Capacity :

Frequency: J9 sherds

1/4" - J/8" Indeterminate

Comment: Since precise provenience within the site is unclear, age and cultural affinities of these sher:is remain unkn0\'10 .

114

11.5

- PLATH 29 -

PO'ITERY FROM THE BAST POINT SITE.

(New Jersey State Nuseu:n photograph )

1 1 4, ) , 7 - 10. Cord- marked pottery resembling

the Cadwalader Corded type .

Note cord- marked interiors

of number s 8 and 9.

2 . Fla t basal sherrl showine mat

i mpressions.

J . Cord-decorated sherd .

6. Riggins Fabric Impressed (?).

0

N

Coarse Plain

Paste: ( 1) Temper: Very fine grit anti crushed shell. (2) Hardness: 2 (J) Texture: Coarse and porous. (4) Color: Pale earthy yellow to tan.

Firing: Incomplete oxidation.

~~nufaoturing: Modeling .

Surface Treatment: (1 ) B:tterior: (2) Interior:

Decoration: None.

Smooth . Smooth .

Form: Flat- bottom with basal 11heels 11 •

Size: (1) Thickness: (2) Capacity:

Frequency: 26 sherds.

'J/8" - 1/2 11

Indeterminate.

Comment: Apparently related to the . Cadwalader and Heislerville Corded pottery of Early \roodland age, with comparable regional affinities.

Faunal Remains

Although an undoubtedly broad spectrum of faunal remains

was once in evidence at the East Point site, only oyster shells

and "animal bones" are referred to in th~ excavation report.

If any such material was collected, which seems unlikely, it

has been long since discarded. Only a handful of oyster shells

remains in the State Museum collections. A re-investigat ion

of the site would probably duplicate the faunal lists already

est~blished for the Cadwalarler and Carlwa lader Annex sites

(pp. 82- 86 ) '

Interpretations

The exiguous evidence of Late Archaic, Early Woodland

and Late \voodland habitations at Bast Point: augments the occu-

116

\ I ! i

pational record from the Cadvalader and Cadwalader Annex

sites. The sequence of occupations at East Point, so far

as it can be discerned, is recounted below, in reverse order.

A few sherds of Riggins vare pottery and the undoubtedly

coeval triangular points provide the sol e evidence of the

Late lioodland use of the site, which seemingly duplicates

the diffuse occupation of the Cadwalader Annex site at approxi­

mately the same time.

The most intensive occupation of the East Point site

correlates with the Early lvoodland Cadwalader ma teri al , partic­

ularly as indicated by the preponderance of Cadwalader Corded

pottery at this station. So far as i s known , the association

of side-notched points and Cadwalader Corded ceramics has not

been documented at East Point .

The di scovery of a Susquehanna Broad point and an Orient

Fishtail point (Cf. Ritchie 1961:46, )J-SJ) marks the presence

of the Susquehanna tradition of Late /l rchai o age. Witthoft

(19SJ) and Ritchie (196.5:149-.53) employ the term "Transitional"

for this manifestation, but since the primary criterion for

this definition is technological and arbitrary rather than

social- i.e. , the use . of soapstone vessels vis a vis per­

i shable or cermaic containers - I would consider this rubic

inappropriate . In any event the occurrence here of elements

of the Susquehanna tradition is interesting and significant

in that it adds another unit to the recorded cultural suc­

cession in this area, and further, illuminates the extension

of this tradition into the Maurice River drainage.

The terminal Archaic finds probable expression in two

117

Rossville points and a modified Rossville point drill. Un­

fortunately , the recorrl s are insufficient to allow explica­

tion of for mer associations ancl wh~ber the Rossville poi nt s

relate to an Earl y Woodland complex or to a s eparate , and

somewhat earlier, horizon cannot be determined . I would

favor the latter view f or reasons already enumer ated (p .l05) .

As far as can be determined f r om the excavation records

the vertical di stributi on of the various point types falls

into the following pattern. Rossville points show the deep­

est occurrence, followed by the Susquehanna Broad and Orient

Fishtail points. Triangular points exhibit the shallowest

di s tribution as anticipated . The frequency and di s tribution

of point types a t various dept h i s , to be sure, statistically

ins i gnificant . Moreover, the associations or co-variance of

features, strat a , and artifacts of different classes is be­

yond positive reconstruction. Therefore , da ta from this s ite

mus t be consi dered sugges tive rather than conclusive, but

seem to be consonant with our more rigi dly controlled Cad­

walader and Cadwalader Annex s ite data.

118

·.

Introduction

THE INDLJ\ti HEAD SITE

(cr. Cross 1941: 44-47)

The Indian Hearl site is located along t he l'iest bank

of the Maurice River near its confluence with t he tributary

Muddy Run (?-lap 1 ). The site , owned by the Mi llville Manu­

facturing Company, is situated along a wooded bluff that

rises about twenty-five f eet above the level of t he river

which a t thi s point, about one and one- half miles above

the natural head of tidewater, is much narrower than f urther

downstream and meanders through dense swamps of cedar and

magnolia . The upl and gr owth i s compo~ mainly of pitch pine

and short leaf yellow pine.

The location has long been known as a focal point of

int ense autochthonous habitation (Spier 1915:98) and bas wit ­

nessed a series of equally intensive excavations inc l uding

several authorized investigations as well as innumerable

clandestine and desultory probings by amateur collectors .

The booty from this once productive s ite forms the nucleus

of many a local collection.

The principal systematic explorat ion of the s ite was

undertaken during the spring of 1940 by the Indian Site Survey

whose crews turned more than 11,250 cubic f eet of sand in the

two-month long excavation. Cross's (1941:44-47 ) report of

that investigation and the collection thereby amassed provide

the founda tions for this review.

119

·.

The pri mary obstacle presentee! by the Indian Head

ma t erial lies in the lack of sound provenience data. The

Indian Site Survey excavation catalo~ues record the position

of artifacts horizontally by trian~ulation and vertically by

absolute depth, but the s eemint! lY erratic distribution of

many artifact types along with the absolute lack of stratig-

raphy obfuscates explication of their original cultural

context. Hence, this material can only be cons i dered for the

present purposes, as a surface collection and because the #

inferences that can be derived therefrom are necessarily

limited , only selected examples with probable bearing on

the proposed cultural sequence will be discussed in detail.

Fea tures

Only one f eature was di scovered , that bein~ ~ cache

of eleven ar~illite blanks.

Artifacts

The complete inventory of the artifacts collected in

the Indian Site Survey excavations at the Indian Head site

is listed below accordinx to i dentificatfons made by the

writer.

Projectile Points

Triangular l>!adisonl Levannal Squibnocket (? )1

lRitchie 1971

f

.50 11

1

120

Broad Square- Stemmed Koens - Crispin/Lehighl Mansion Inn (? )2 Stanly Stemmed)

Narrow Square-Stemmed liading Ri ver4 Bare Island4

Contracting-Stem~ed Poplar Island Rossvule4 Squibnocket Stemmed (?)4

Fishtail4

Side- Notched Wayland Notched (?)2 Cadwalader tide-Notched Otter Creek

Corner-Not8hed Vosburg Jack 1 s Reer4 Kirk Corner-NotchedJ

Base-Notched {BYa/ Eshback)l

Convex-base

Bifurcate-base (LeCroy)S

Preforms (cached)

Miscellaneous

Scrapers

Bnd s'orapers Side scrapers Reworked points

lunsey 1972 2nincauze 1968 'Jcoe 1964 4Ritchie 1971 .5sroyles 1966

62 8 2

6 2

Jl 20

2

7

9 s 1

9 1 1

2

4

2

11

16

19 5 2

121

122

·.

- PL.IITE JO -

PHOJECTILE POINTS FROM THE INDIAN HEll D SI TE •

1 - 4. Triangular points •

5 - 6. Cad\l'alader Sid e- Notched points •

7 - 9. Ma nsion Inn/1\ayland Notched points ( 7) .

10 - 15. Rossville points •

16 - 17. Poplar Island- or Mo rrow Mountain It­like points •

18 - 20 . Koens-Crispin/Lehigh points .

21. Kirk Corner-Notched point.

22 . Vosburg point (?) .

2) , Stanly Stemmed point (t i p and base broken) ,

24 - 25. Bifurca te base points (Le Croy ? ) •

Na terial::

1 - 4 , 12, 16 , 17, 21. .5 , 7 . 8 , 11 , 18.

6 ' 22. lJ, 2J, 24.

25 .

Cohansey quartzite • Argi llite. Quartzite . Jasper , ~uart~ .

12)

·.

- PLATE Jl -

SCRAPERS AND DRILLS FROM THE INDIAN HEAD SITE·

(New Jersey State Museum photograph)

1, J, Modified point scrapers .

2, 1 0 . ~lodified point dri lls .

4 - 9, 11, 12 . Scrapers ,

Nateria l :

1, 4 - 8, 11 , 12.

2 , J .

9·

10 .

Jasper .

Argillite,

\luartzite .

Banded chert (?).

N

0

N

L()

Drills

Modified points

Rough Stone

Celt (chipped) Pestles Abraders Pitted hammerstones Unpitted bammerstones

Ground or Polished Stone, etc.

J/4 grooved axe Full ~rooved ~xes Semi-lunar atlatl Weight Stea t1 te iJherds

Pottery

Riggins Fabric-Impressed Riggins Plain Fralinger Corded Union Lake Corded Indian Head Incised Cadwalader Corded Heislerville Corded \l'a re Plain Net-Impressed (?)

Pipes

J

1 2 2 J 8

1 2 1 4

148 68

172 187

2 26 7

.56 3

Indian Head Incised (form unknown) 2 Shell-tempered platform (fragment) 1

Interpretations

The Indian Read site shows a wide range of artifact

types, apparently the vestiges of frequent sojourns by

aboriginal groups over the course of many millenia . The

evidence to differentiate discrete occupations is not

iron-clad , failing any demonstrable str at i graphic context

or clear associations.

124

125

- PLATE )2 ~

RI~GINS FABRIC-IMPRESSED POTTERY FRON

THE INDIA N HEAD SITE.

(New Jersey State Museum photograph)

126

•,

- PLATE JJ -

POTTERY FROM THB INDIJ\N HEAD SITE.

(New Jersey State Museum photograph)

1 - 7, 9· Riggins Fabric Impressed.

8. Cord-marked.

.. .,.

127

- PLATE .J4 -

POTTERY .4ND PIPE .FRAIJ.MBNTS FROM

THB INDIAN HEAD SITB.

(New Jersey State Museum photograph)

1 - 4, 7• Indian Head Incised.

8. Fragmentary pipe bOl41s.

... _,

The most recent aboriginal occupations of the site un­

doubtedly relate to Late l~ood land times, with the probable

use of triangular points along with ceramics of the follow­

ing types: Riggins Fabric-Impressed and Plain, Fralineer

Corded , Union Lake Cor1\ed, and Indian Head Incised . The

dating for the Late \#oodland here is insecure, probably

spanning the last few centuries before the European settle­

ment of the area.

Much of the pottery lt~ould seem to be intermediate in

paste, thickness , and surface treatment between the Late

\foodland Fralinger Corded and the Early iioodland Cadwalader

Corded ware, and this vague intermediate category probably

embraces the Middle 1\oodland ceramics of the site. A large

p latform pipe fragment of shell-tempered paste i n the

Charles F. Kier, Jr. collection probably also belongs in a

Mi ddle Woodl and congeries. Related projectile point forms

or other Mi dd le lroodland artifacts are presently unknown

unless, perhaps , the few convex- base points (Cross 19)6:185)

and net-impressed (?) sherds could be so designated.

The Early lvoodland, to judge from analogous ma terials

from our Delaware Bay sites, is characterized by the presence

of generalized side-notched points , Cadwalarler Corded , Heisler­

ville Corded , and ;tare Plain ceramics. The record does not

indicate an intense E~rly Woodl and occupation, and it seems

likely that the Indian Head site was the locus of winter en­

campments of the same people who inhabited the Carlwalader and

Cadwalader Annex sites.

128

The Late Ar chaic Susquehanna tradition is represented

by a number of genetically related components , evinced

solely by distinctive projectile point forms , among which are

the Orient Fishtail {Ritchie 1961:39) and Koens-Crispin/ Lehigh

Broad types (Kinsey 1972: 423-26) as well as a few points which

seem to reflect intermediate developmtntbetween the Ori•nt

Fishtail and Susquehanna Broad types. These last correspond

to Dincauze 1s (1968:26) Dudley and Coburn varieties of liayl and

Notched points, Werner's {1972:117-22) Dry Brook Fi shtail

points, or the unnamed specimens of intermediate form from

New York State (Ritchie 1959 :90). Their di scovery here is

of more than passing interest since another surface collected

series of suoh points has been isolated a short distance down

river at Union Lake (p. 147) .

Other undifferentiated Late Archaic manifestations with

suspected austral affinities are characterized by Bare Island,

liading River, Poplar Island and Rossville points, while an

earlier diffusion from the north has resulted in the deposi­

tion of a few relics referable to the Laurentian tradition

(Ritchie 196.5:79). Among the recorded Laurentilln h'MitS are

a few Vosburg points, a single example of the Otter Creek type

and a chipped semilunar knife of rhyolite in the collection of

the Vineland Historical Society, Vineland, N.J .

Of particular interest is the discovery of a number of

pro jectile points that i mply affinities to f.liddle and Early

Archaic cultural sequences established from stratified sites

in North Carolina (Coe 1964 ) , \fest Virginia (Broyles 1966;1971)

129

..

and southern New England (Dincau~e 1971) an~ spanning a

period of approximately 2500 years as determined by C-14

dating. Barly point forms relating to the Atlantic Slope

sequences of Coe and Dincauze represent regional variations

of the following established types: Morrow Mountain II

(Stark), Stanly Stemmed (Neville), and Kirk Corner -Notched

points. Representatives of the West Virginia series com­

prise the bifurcate- base LeCroy points, along with some

vaguely bifurcated forms in local collections from this site .

Two Eva-like points of probabl e early, but uncertain, age

were also found .

The situation is not enti rely clear of confusion since

some typological overlapping occurs, particularly in the

case of the ~forrow Mountain II·like points which also re­

semble in some respects the Late Archaic Poplar Island

points or even Rossville points. The presence of distinc­

tive fo r ms , however, justifies the cautious acceptance of

their validi ty as markers of quite early occupations . The

cultural and chronological i mplications of these early

points styles will be discusser! in greater detail anon •

130

Introduction

THE UN I ON LAKE S ITBS

(cr. Mounier 1972)

The sites described below lie along the shore of

Union Lake (~~P 1) which was created by the damming of

the Maurice River a short distance below the head of tide-

water about 1860. Originally the river must have run along

what is now the western shore of the l ake, judging from the

present configuration of the lake and the situation of the

primary feeder streams . Along the western shore of the river

were bluffs of varying heights rising from the water's edge.

Smaller cliffs and terraces to the east \>'ere probably separated

from the river by a fairly extensive marsh . Presumably any

high point along the river could have been reached with

facility by boat or canoe.

The writer's attention was fi rst called to the Union

Lake sites in December of 1970 when he was notified by

.Mrs . Richard l~ood of the discovery of many Indian relics

from a site on the northeast shore of the lake. This site,

subsequently termed Locus I, had been exposed by the lowering

of the water level i n Union Lake due to vandalism to the dam.

The ma ximum recession of the water apparently measured some

three and a half feet. This incident marked the first time

in living memory that the water level in the lake had been

significantly lowered since the dam was constr ucted more

than a century before.

The artifacts from this site collected by ~lr. and ~irs .

Harry Francois and by Mrs. Gloria Mclaughlin and sons were

1.31

..

examined by the writer and seemed to include items relating

to Archaic through Late Woodland occupations as will be

described anon.

Initial testing at Locus I was begun on December 12,

1970 by the writer with the able assistance of Mr. Donald

c. Pettifer. At that time limited excavation was under-

taken but failed to produce any evidence of prior ocoupa-

tion. Testing at the site revealed a soil profile which

lat er proved to be more or less typical of the entire lake

shore•

0"- 6": Matted roots of briar and huckleberry in a loose white sand and humus mixture . In more low-lying ar eas this portion of the profile is laced with roots of water lilly and other acquatic plants.

611 -1211 : Fine white sand .

12 11 -1611 : A dark, somewhat undulating layer, apparently representing an old humus (not present at all loci).

16 11 -on: Fine white or yellowish sand .

The upper foot or so , composed of finely water-sorted

material, was sterile. The humus layer encountered at 1211 -

1611 may have represented an old topsoil or duff band, but it

too was sterile where tested. Despite the lowered water level

in the lake, the permeable sand deeper than 16 11 was saturated,

and attempts at excavation were stymied by filling and by

collapsing profiles. The very few artifaotsncovered occurred

for the most part beneath water level, and the inability to

maintain stratieraphic control led to the suspension of opera-

tions until the following spring.

1J2

Investigations were renewed during the following ~lay.

As was anticipated, excavation at this and other locations

along the lake shore was fraught with the same difficulties

as before and proved essentially fruitless. By this time

repairs to the dam were nearly completed and it was decided

to terminate intensive excavation in favor of a surface sur­

vey of the lake shore aimed at locating areas of aborieinal

occupation, before the rising lake water precluded any fur­

ther discovery. Vi rtually every passable foot of shoreline

was searched for siens of prior habitation. Three major areas

of artifact concentration were discovered in addition to the

initial finds reported by Mrs. \~ood. The lake shore was

divided into four loci which represent broadly the areas of

concentration of the finds. These loci and the art ifacts

from them are briefly described below.

The Sites

Locus I: The northeastern shore of Union Lake in the

vicinity of the Union House. Discoveries include many stemmed,

notched, and triangular projectile points, a pick-shaped

bannerstone or atlatl weight, a small whetstone, several

hundred cord-marked and fabric-impressed sherds, various rough

stone objects (no reco~nizable tools), a slate pendant, and

various utilized flakes and~rapers. A small prehistoric

hearth containinz stone chips and potsherds was also found.

Locus II: The western shore and two small islands at

the head of the lake, north of the nameless stream. Cultural

remains include stemmed, notched and triangular points, a

133

..

few potsherds of cord-marked and fabric- i mpressed varieties,

a f raementary sandstone slab '~hetstone, and various chipping

debri s as well as utilized flakes and a cylindrical pestle.

Locus III: The western shore of Union Lake and the

point of land between the Lebanon Branch on the south and

the unnamed stream on the north. Finds include ste~nect,

notched, convex-base, and triangular points, a f ew cord­

marked sherds, thumbnail scrapers , and various artifacts of

European manufacture, including a kaolin pipe bowl and plain

metal buttons.

Locus IV: The two large and two small islands l ying off

the western shore of Union Lake j ust s·outh of Lebanon Branch.

The artifact inventory comprises various stemmed and, notched

pQints, sherds of cord- marked vessels, and a few rough stone

obj ects and chips. Twenty- three sherds of a sinele cord­

ma r ked vessel were found, apparently in situ, on the northern

end of t he largest island. Most of these sherds match to

form the base of a large conoidal vessel. The absence of

triangular points is noteworthy as these are co~only associ­

ated with ceramic artifacts.

Features

Only one f eature, a prehistoric hearth, was discovered

during the survey off shore under f i ve inches of water at

locus I. The hearth was roughly triangular in plan and

measured about sixteen by eighteen inches. This feature,

which was partially filled with fi ne sand and silt, was

composed of a single course of rocks, primcrily of quartz

and sandstone, varying in size f rom one to six inches in

1J4

diameter . Most of the rocks were fire-cracked or chipped

by percussion . Five small cord- marked sherds and many s mall

jasper, quartz and quartzite chips \iere distributed through-

out the hearth, but no charcoal remained . Absolutely no

modern material was found in or near the feature , \ihich

seemed to be partly scattered by wave action. Subsequent

to lifting the constituent rocks, the underlying sand was

searched for artifacts , but nothing was recovered .

Artifacts

The complete composite assemblage from the Union Lake

s ites is summarized below in t abu l ar form .

Projectile Points

Triangular Lev annal Squibnocket {?)1

Broad Square- Stemmed Koens - Crisp1n/ Leh1gh2 Perkiomenl Fox Creekl Stanly Stemmecl J

Contracting- Stemmed Morrow Mountain I-1ikeJ Poplar Island 1 Rossville!

Fishtaill

Side- Notched Susquehanna Broad1

Cadwalader Side-Notched Otter Creekl Untyped

Corner- Notched Vosburgl Untyped

lRitchie 1971 2Kinsey 1972 Jcoe 1964

f

22 6

14 1 2 2

12 6 1

4 7 2

J

2 2

135

136

- PL:\TE )5 -

CHIPPEO STONE AHTIFACTS FRON UNION LAKE .

(Locus IV)

1 , 4. Lagoon-, Poplar Island - or ~lorrow

Mountain II- like points •

2. Stanl y Stemmed point •

J. Cadwalarier Si de - Notched point.

5. Ovoid knife or scr aper .

G. Fragmentary stemmed or notched poi nt.

Nate r ia1:

1 , J - 6. Jasper .

2. Co hans ey quartz. i te •

'

N

-tn

--

-., -w ::.G - !;

137

..

- PLI\TE J6 -

STEMMBD PROJECTILE POINTS FROM UNION LAKB .

(Locus I )

1 - 4. Contract ing-stemmed points.

Numbers 1 and 4 : Lagoon- like.

Number J: ~lorrow ?-fountain I - like .

) - 6. Koens-Crispin/Lehieh points.

7. Stanly Stemmed point.

Material:

1, 2, 4, 6. J. 5· 7·

Cohansey quar tzite. ~uartz.

~uartzite . Chalcerlony .

N

..... '

~· ..

- .... - .- ... . : .. - .• -~.., ...... -. ·- -.. '····~-. ' . . . . - . . . . . ' . ..,. . ~ ~-""~--i; . • ·ott. . • • .. .• .,._... : . .... ~-,- . . . .. .. . ·..:

. • •: • - ·,J ..;..:• . . - - : ... - .. . .. ·-

1J8

- PLATE J7 •

SUS\~UBHANNA TRADITION ARTIFACTS

FRON UNION LA KB (LOCUS I).

1 - s. Susquehanna Broad points •

Number 4 modified for scraping .

6. Perkiomen Broad point•

7. Knife (Perkiomen ? ) ~

8. Lehieh point .

Material:

1 - 2. Chert.

J - 7• Pe nnsylvania jasper .

8. ~uarhite .•

N

1J9

- Pl.ATB J8 -

FISHTAIL POINTS FROM UNION•LAK8 (LOCUS I).

Material:

1 . Pennsylvania jasper .

2. Slate.

J - 7• Cohaosey quart~ite.

N

140

..

- PLATE 39 -

PROJECTILE POINTS FROM UNION LAKE (LOCUS I ).

1.

2 - 4.

5 - 6.

7 - 8.

Deep side- notched point.

Cadwalader Side- llotched points.

Untyped corner-notched points.

Otter Creek points.

Material:

1 1 21 4 - 6. Jasper.

). Chalcedony.

7• ·1uartzite.

8. Hematite cemented

siltstone •

141

- PLATE 40 -

PnOJECTILE POI NTS FROM UNION LAKE (LOCUS III) .

1. Vosburg point.

2, Triangular point ,

J , Contracting stemmed point.

4 - 6. Convex base points,

~Jaterial:

1 - 2 . Jasper.

J - 6. Argillite .

-- Lt')

N

t:..

-_;::,__ -N

--

142

- PLI\TB 41 -

TRIANJULI\ll POINTS AND DRILL FROM

UNION LAKE (LOCUS I)

Material: Jasper.

N

L{)

14)

• PLATE 42 -

POTTEHY FRO~! UNION UKE (LOCUS I) •

1 - 5·

6 - 7·

Riggins Fabric - Impressed •

Union Lake Corded •

144

- PL~TB 43 -

POTTERY FROM UNION LAKE (LOCU$ II) •

1 - 3, .5 · Union lake Cordect •

4. Riggins Fabric-Impressed ,

Convex-base 8

1-iiscellaneous J

Blanks Susquehanna Broad 1

Modified Point Tools Susquehanna Broad Scraper 1 Triangular-base drills 3 Contracting-stemmed knife 1

Knives Triangular 1 Asymmetrical Single-shouldered 1 Perkiomen Broad (?) 1

Scrapers Ovoid bifaces 1 End scrapers 2 Side scrapers J Crescentic ("spokeshave") 1 Uti lized flakes J7

RouP,h Stone tfuet~tones J Cobble hammerstones 2 Bipolar hammerstone 1 Cylindrical postle 1

Ground Stone Pick-shaped bannerstone 1 Slate effigy/pendant 1 Fishtail point (?) 1

Pottery Union Lake Corded J26 Riggins Fabri~-Impressed 90

Interpretations

The surface survey of the Union Lake area '"as useful

in locating a few heretofore unrecognized sites but tells

us little of the cultural and chronological affinities of

·. the artifacts thus discovered or the elements of culturally

significant asseJDblages. Limited intensive excavations at

Loci I, II, and IV were also uninstructive in this regard.

In the absence of fi rm strati graphic control it is diffi­

cult to assess the s i gnificance of the finds and to f it

them within the all-too-poorly defined framework of pre­

histori c cultural development in this area.

Stri ctly on the t enuous basis of typological similarity

it wou l d seem that the material noted above is r epresentative

of a long span of prehistory in t he sout hern New J ersey area

beginning no later than the La t e Archaic, but poss i bl y con­

siderabl y ear lier.

There i s some indication of very early occupati ons in

the Union Lake area. Some of the pro j ectile points i n

par ticular are strongl y r eminiscent of Early and Mi dd le

Archaic forms found in the Southeast and in Now England .

Earl y t ypes whi ch s eem to be present include Morrow Mountain I

and I I points (Coo 1964:J7-4J) or t hei r local vari ant f orms,

which resemble the Poplar Island type (Cf. nitchie 1961:44-4) ;

Dincauze , personal communication) although it i s unclear at

thi s t i me whether t hese types represent closely related

phas es of the same continuum or simpl y reflect a case of

mor phol ogical convergence. Also recovered were Stanly

Stemmed (Coo 1964:35) or Neville points (Dincauze 1971 :195)

which wore authenticated on formal e rounds by Di ncauze in

personal communication. Their presence here would seem

to signify an antiquity of 7000 - 8000 years , according

to current thinking (Coe 196~:122-2) ; Dinoauze 1971:195 ).

A series of Late Archaic occupations ~rowin~ out of

146

the Savannah River broad stemmed point tradition and ter­

minating in the use of fishtail points can be reasonably

adduced from the data at hand . The greatest chronological

period represented by the various square- stemmed, broad- and

fishtail points probably amounts to something greater than a

millenium, beginning in this area about 1900 B.C .

A number of the Susquehanna Broad and fishtail points,

the end products of this projectile point tradition, form a

stylistic continuum gr ading from holotypic Susquehanna Broad

points on the one end to true Orient fishtail points on the

other, ancl as such this series corresponds to Werner's (1972:

117-22) Upper Del aware Valley Dry Brook phase or its e~uiva­

lent, more easterly, expressions in New York (Ritchie 1959:

90-91) and Massachusetts (Dincauze 1968 : 26).

A scattering of Laurentian tradition traits, including

Vosbur~ and Otter Creek points have been i dentified from

photo~ raphs by Ritchie (personal communication). These relics

seem to point to a diffuse boreal influence, also perceivable

at the In:iian Head site (p. 129) . and in various local collec­

tions .

Early and Middle h'oodland cultures are not in evidence ,

or at least have not been recognized in the surface finds at

Union Lake, ana a t present, evidence attributable to Late

lfoodland occupations is restricteJ to the use of equilater al

triangular points , Union Lake Corded and Riggins Fabric­

Impressed pottery . It is possible that the less durable

earlier fictile materials have not surviveJ the inunda tion

of the valley.

Artifacts of the historic era have been found in pro­

fusion in the vicinity of the Union House . Locus III was

the only other area tested in this survey to produce historic

artifacts in any number. It i s suspected that these relics

relate to an industri al station of the late 18th or early

19th centuries .

148

DI SCUSSI ON

The cultural sequence and chronolo~y \~hich follows

has been developed from several lines of archaeological

evidence, incorporating da t a from our excavated sites ,

prior archaeolo~ical investigations in the area , a survey

of the local private and institutional collections, and

comparisons with existing regional a r chaeological records.

The culture sequence, then,represents a composite esta blished

by means of interdi gitat ion of relevant data from various

s ources. Likewise the chronology has been created largely

through interpolation from previously recorded reeional

sequences and internally by super position and stratification.

TVo C-14 age determinations provide presumably culture-free

or independant support for t he major body of t he chronolog­

i ca l f r amework.

The sequence- ~Titten as a brief regi onal synthesis-

has been structured so as to provide both horizontal scope

and historical depth, tha t is, through t he use of culture

types or peri ods on the one hand and traditions on the other.

A synchronic view or 11 s lice of time" is achieved by t he use

of culture t ypes or periods which have the advantaee of

possessing f amilia r l abels with wel l recogni zed cons tellations

of traits and with presupposed concomitant social activiti es

(Cf . ~riffin 1952). The failing of thi s system i s, of course,

tha t it embodies the static and ar tificial l umpine of coeval

bu t often dispar ate traits as though such derived groupings

149

had subs t ance in and of themselves, and in the process , hi s tor-

ical developments become obscured.

The analysis of traditions within and sometimes tran­

sacting these broarl cultural types circumvents the major

problems presented by the study of culture periods alone.

The study of traditions emphasizes the historical perspective

and permits the explication of de·telopine technolo~ies and

patterned behavior. lfi thin traditions can be recognized

phases , archaeologically expressed as components, which

represent distinct historically and culturally related mani­

festations at a particular point in time .

Thus, the attempt has been made to combine in this disw

cussion the best of both classificatory systems; hence, the

postulated culture sequence that follows is divided into cul­

ture types or periods - Paleo-Indi an , Archaic , and l~oodland -

and their included t radi t ions to the extent thnt these can

be determined.

Paleo- Indian: The Paleo-Indian culture type is characw

terhed by a simple economy based upon the hunting of late

Pleistocene big game and possibly other animals. The basic

social unit is most often conceived of as a small, highly

mobile band. The typical Paleo·•Indian tool kit comprises

l anceolate fluted points of relatively consistent form, free

flakes with single or multiple graving spurs, unifachl

sc rapers , and knives . Conservative aee estimates place the

Pa leo- Indian period at 9,000 - 13,000 years ago (Ritchie

1965:9) . In the Delaware Valley the major concentrations of

related finds cluster around Trenton, New Jersey and in the

1.50

environs of New Castle County, Delaware j Chester and

De l aware Counties, Pennsylvaniai and, Gloucester and

Salem Counties, New Jersey (Mason 1959:8). The coastal

plain in New Jersey bears little evidence of Paleo-Indian

occupation, and this province, it would seem, held small

at traction for these early hunters.

Only two fluted points, both in the George l~ooctruff

collection, are on record for the Maurice River drainage.

Both were collected along the Nuddy Run in the headwaters

of the Maurice River near Parvins State Park. No other

specimens from this watershed have ever come to light nor

were any seen in the study of local private collections.

This negative evidence supports the conclusion that, for

one reason or another , the ~Iaurice River· · valley was not

conducive to Paleo- Indian habitation, or at least, indica­

tions to tbe contrary await discovery.

~ rchaic: The Archaic is generally regarded as sig­

nifying the exploitation of an unmodified natural environ­

ment with an emphasis on increasingly effective and economi­

cal patterns of hunting and gathering, leading ~o what

Caldwell (1958 : 6-18) has called "primary forest efficiency, 11

which rendered agriculture unnecessary or superfluous.

Curiously the advent of primary forest efficiency, followecl

pari passu by semi-sedentary life, may have actually in­

creased the potential for the development of agriculture by

providing both time and propitious opportunity for tbe

1.51

·,

unwitting discovery of domesticable plants.

The typical Archaic congeries include some or all of

the following elements: an abundance of chipped stone

points, knives an~ scrapers; ground stone woodworking tools

such as axes , celts, and gouges : the bannerstone in several

simple forms; a well developed bone and antler industry;

the lack of pottery, but the use of stone bowls or vessels

of perishable materi als (Cf . Ritchie 1965:31) . The social

organization is supposed to have been dominated by the

interaction and cooperation of small mobile families l i ving

in more or less temporary shelters and following a seasonal

exploitative round .

Recognizable withi n thi s generally uniform paradigm.

between 7000 B.C . and 1000 B. C ~ are numerous local or regional

variat ions reflecting ecological adaptation , the interaction

of groups anrJ the rise of regional traditions, the earliest

of which, apparently arising in the Southeast, manifests the

evolution of l arge stemmed projectile points between 7000 B.C.

and 4500 B.c . This tradition- typified by the transition

from Kirk through Stanly to Morrow Nountain I and II points ­

was f irst recognized by Coe (1964) in the North Carolina

piedmont in a series of stratified components , each embracing

the use of a single distinctive point style .

Somewhat later Broyles (1966: 1971) was able to f ill

the hiatus between the Kirk and Stanly horizons with a series

of bifurcate base poi nts- St. Albans, Le Croy, and Kanal1ha -

respectively ~ ated at 6900 B.C. 1 6JOO B.c., anrt 6200 B. C.

152

..

(Broyles 1971:30-Jl}; and, in New England Dincauze's (1971)

Neville site sequence begins with Stanly-like Neville points

sometime after 6000 B.C. The Neville points then seem to

evolve about 5800 B.C. into the Morrow Mountain II- like

Stark points which in turn apparently develop into Nerrimac

points. These last , which resemble the Bare Island type,

appear to initiate the so-called narro\i point tradition in

southern New England.

This compound sequence as interpolated from the work

of Coe, Broyles and Oincauze seems to express the general

evolution of the southeastern de rived projectile point styles

through Early and Middle Archaic times on the eastern sea­

board. Similar point styles with generally consonant dating,

where available, are well known along the Atlantic coast

from Staten Island (Ritchie and Funk 1971) to the Chesapeake

Bay region (Holmes 1897: 80- 97 : Holland 1955:168; Stephenson

and Ferguson 1963:150). Points of like typology are not

uncommon in Ne\~ Jersey, and Cross (1941 ) illustrates several

examples of Early and ~Iiddle Archaic points from the follow­

ing sites: Riggins, Young's Nursery, Salisbury, Hurff,

l~orrell, Stobbe, Nel~ Sharon, Red Valley, and the Abbott !<'arm

(Cross 1956),

Archaic projectile point types apparently relating to

the innominate 1\irk-Stanly- ~lorro\~ Nount ain tradition have

a sporadic clistribution in the lower Maurice River watershed •

Two local variants of the Stanly point t ype were •~covered

at the Indian Head site along with a like numbe r of LeCroy

points as \~ell as several related bifurcate-base specimens,

1.5J

Loci I and IV at Union Lake each producerl one Stanly point.

Kirk, LeCroy, Kanawha, and St anly points have all been seen

in private, locally amassed collections. ~torrow Mountain­

like points abound, but because of their strong resemblance

to late Archaic point types , suoh as Poplar Island points ,

their identity cannot be verified in surface collections.

The scant evidence derived from surface finds seems to

indicate that the Early and ~Iidd le Archaic cultural progres­

sion here conforms to the composite sequence abstracted from

the earlier reports just cited. The sequence is character­

ized by the following point types, listed in order of

appearance, viz., Kirk, Le Croy, Kanawha, Stanly, and Morrow

Nountain I and II. The elating is as yet insecure but probably

spans two and a half mil l eni a beginning about 7000 B.C. The

elements complementing the respective components are unrecog­

nized in this area and mus t remain so until carefully con­

trolled excavation of closed or stratified deposits can be

effected.

To judge from the Neville sequence , . the foregoing

tradition gradually gave rise to the so- called narrow point

tradition (Dincauz.e 1971:198) which embraces the following

recognized point types: Bare I s land , Poplar Is l and , Lacka­

waxen Stemmed, i1'ading River, Squibnocket Stemmed, Sylvan

Side-Notched , i-!acpherson, Normanskill, Lamoka and Lamoka­

like points , among others (Kinsey 1972:JJ7) ,

This oft - and poorly na11ed groupint: h:\S endureJ a long

list of inadequate and un•l esirable titles , includine,

"Coastal Archaic" (Byers 19.59:236-43), "Appalachian"

(Ritchie 1969a:l44) , "Taconic" (Brennan 1967:.5) , "Pied­

mont 11 (Kinsey 1972:337) , and "Small Stemmed Point 11 tradi­

tion (Ritchie 196.5a) . None ofthese names is entirel y

satisfaotoryfor the reasons expressed by Ritchie (1969a:

144) , specifically, because of the implied geographic and

morphological r estricti ons. failing an acceptable nomen­

clature it is perhaps best to hobble alone without further

additions in the kno1dedge of what is generally meant by

these terms .

The regi onali zed names applien to this tradition pro­

vide a clue to its widespread distribution . It is repre­

sented as discrete elements or in complexes along the East

Coast from Virginia to southern New Engl and, '"i th consid ­

erable penetration into the upland regions of Pennsy l vania

and New York State, especially along the Delaware , Hudson ,

and Susquehanna Rivers and their major tributaries (Kinsey

1972 :337 ; Funk 196.5 :1.52; Brennan 1967; Ri tchie 1971a :.5) ·

In Pennsy l vania the narrow point tradition is expressed in

Kinsey's (l972:JJ6- J9) nelaware Valley Archaic complex

which he dates between 3200 B.C . and 1700 B.C. In New Yo r k

State and Massachusetts the related and nearly contemporan­

eous Sylvan Lake (Funk 196.5:146) and Squibnocket complexes

(Ritchie 1969: 218) share a date of c. 2200 B.C . whi l e the

Lamoka phase is securely dated to c. 2.500 B. C. at the type

site (Ritchie 196.5:44-4.$). To the south in New Jersey

1.5.5

(Cross 1941) and the Chesapeake Bay region (Stephenson

and ferguson 1963:140- 52 ) similar manifestations occur

in undated contexts anc1 , with the exception of Kinsey's

(1959 ) Bare Island complex, have not been grouped into

larger cultura l units. The coastal areas in general seem

to have witnessed the evol ution of the narrow point tra­

dition and its rather conserva tive persistence t o relatively

late Archaic times. The typical lithic traits rounding out

the narrow point -sharing complexes comprise bannerstones of

notched and bipennate forms, plummets, choppers , chipped

stone knives of different shapes , hematite and graphite

paintstones , and a variety of rough stone objects such as

mullers, pestles, hammer- and whetstones . I n addition,

the Lamoka phase has a rich bone inventory (Ritchie 1965) .

Characteristic narrow- bladed projectile points attri ­

butabl e to the Bar e I sland, Poplar Island , lvadine River, and

Squibnocket Stemmed types occur 'd th some frequency at the

Indian Head 1 Union Lake (all loci) , and the Cadwalader Annex

sites , usually in mixed assemblages . Other objects such as

pestles , knives, and spearthrower weights may well belong

in an as yet undefined complex, but confirmatory testimony

is lacking.

One distinctive point sty~e that seems to spring

forth from the narrow point tradition, at least in southern

New Jersey, is the Rossville type which was found in a firm

l a te Archaic context at the Cadwal ader Annex s ite well below

t he Early i~ood lan'l pottery- bearing level. There was no hint

156

..

of Rossville part icipat ion in a lioodlancl compl ex a t this

site, anrt t he Ar chaic provenience for the Rossville type,

bo th here in southern New Jersey ancl on wes tern Long I sland

(Ski nner 1919:)4 , 72), is interesting in light of its appa­

rent affiliation with Early ancl Mi dl.lle lvo odlan.i complexes

in Massachusetts (Ritchie 1969:224) and innortheastern

Pennsy lvania (Kinsey 1972:364-69) . Unhappily, the data

necessary to reconcile this apparent inco ngruity are not

a t ha nd , unless one postulates a conservative adherence

to the use of t he Rossville style throughout the Northeast .

It i s possible that our seemingly dispar ate chronologies

actually represent the poles of a lengthy continuum, span­

ning Late Ar chai c to ~Iidd le l#oodland times , but this situ­

ation has yet to be demonstrated . If, in fact, Rossvil le

points origi na t ed in the Chesapeake Bay region as Ritchie

(1961:46) suspects , then their earlier occurrence near

their heartland should not come as much of a surprise.

The ancestry of t he Rossville point type rernains some­

wha t nebulous. The Poplar Island point seems a likely proto­

type on morphological grounds as Ritchi e (1961:46) adumbrates.

Kinsey's {1972:366 ) seriation of Rit chie 's Lagoon complex

materials from Martha 's Vi neyard shows a progressive in­

crease in the popularity of t he Rossville type through time

with a concomitant decline in the frequency of the Lagoon

points . This trend suggests that Rossvi l le points may have

deve loped indirectly from a narrow point prototype through

an intermedi ate stage represented by Lagoon points, and

157

·.

such a sequential development may have, in fact, tran-

spired during Late Archaic times. This interpretation

is presently clouded by the relatively l ate appearance

of Lagoon points about 500 B.C. (Ritchie 1969 :224) and

it is to be hoped that as studies proliferate, the con-

fusion surrounding the evolution of Rossville points will

be resolved.

likewise, the descendent forms that emerge from the

Rossville type have gone unrecognized to date in excavated

sites. Strictly on formal grounds and with due reservation ,

the nameless convex- base point style, which occurs commonly

from central New Jersey (Cross 1941 :24) to tidewater

Virginia (Holland 1955:lli9-70) is tendered here as the possible

lithi c progeny of the Rossville type. These points form a

continuous series ranging from a convex-base or "tcar J rop"

variety on the one extreme to an angular- or pointed-base

configuration on the other, wherein they merge with points

of the Rossville type (Mounier n.d .; Cr oss 1956: Pl.20a).

Straightening the base on the teardrop-shaped specimens

would result in small triangular points, thus completing

the transition f rom Early 1\oodl and to Late Woo1laml types.

Thi s proposed scheme presents a clear morphological trans-

forma tion, but wha t objective reality it possesses is a

matter for future critical examination .

Returning t o the discussion of Archaic cultures and

traditions , the student of Northeastern prehistory i s im-

pressed wi t h the far- flung dispersal of the laurentian

158

I I I

tradition, which is evidenced on numerous s i tes in south­

eastern Ontario, southern ~uebec , nor thern New England , and

New York State (Ritchie 1965:79), wi th scattered components

appearing into the Middle Atlantic region. Of the recog­

nized Laurentian phases, the Vosburg and Vergennes receive

incomplete archaeological expression in this last named

area. The Vosburg phase, represented by distinctive corner­

notched points of the same name, occurs \11th some frequency

in the Delaware Water Gap area and with diminishing regu­

lari ty south\fard , probably within the C-14 dated span of

c . J500 B.C. - 2)00 B. C. (Ritchie 1965: HJ- 83; Kinsey 1972:398)

while the presence of the Vergennes phase in thi s area i s

signaled by the appearance of Otter Creek points (Kinsey 1972:

340-41). The chronology relating to Vergennes manifestations

is in flux. It apparently embraces a period of about 1000

years as represented by the extreme age J eterminations of

3300 B. C. in the Ottawa Valley of southeastern Canada

(t ennerly 1970:61- 63) and 2270 B.C.% 160 years (Y -1530) from

the Hornblower II site on Nartha ' s Vineyard (Hitohie 1969:38).

A large refuse bone sample excavated by Ritchie and Richard

Passino in 1971 from a typical Vergennes station on the Otter

Creek in Addison County, Vermont yielded a date of 3120 B. c . ±

210 (I- 6349) (Ritchie correspondence, December 22, 1972),

According to Ritchie , the Vergennes phase was not represented

a t the Sylvan Lake site as others have claimed (Funk 1965:

Kinsey 1972:331 ) , and the earl y assays of 40JO B.C. ! 120

(I- 2599) and 4610 B. C. ! 100 (Y- 1655) (Funk 1965 ) from the

159

basal layer of that rockshelter are considered by Ritchie

to antedate the appearance of the Vereennes phnse .

In the Maurice River drainage the Laurentian tra:lition

is f Aintly an.l no :loubt only briefly expr esse.\ At Union LAke

(Loci I, II, III } by two specimens each of the Vosburg and

Otter Creek point types which were i dentifieJ from photo­

graphs and descriptions by Ritchie (dorresponaence , August

17, 1972) and at the In<lian Head site 1~here Vosburg points

1~ere recover ed with a chipped semi lunar knife . Such f inJs

at test to the much attenuated , thoueh still palpable , in­

fluence of the Laurentian continuum some time between )SOO

B. C. and 2S00 B.C. It is possible, though not presently

d e~ons.ttable , that this expansi on of Laurentian into south­

ern New Jersey was contemp~raneous with a similar Laurentian

intrusion into southern New Bngland about 2) 00 B.C. ( Dincau~e

1971). The mode of transmission of Laurentian elements into

this area and the general lack of Laurentian diagnostics,

with the exception of projectile points , are in neeJ of e xplt•

cation .

One of the most pervasive Late Archaic manifestations

in the Nort heast is the Susquehanna traclition which is repre­

sented by several phases or complexes within this area, viz.,

the Snook Kill and closely related anJ probably ancestral

Koens -Crispin/ Lehigh phases; the Perkiomen phase; the Frost

Island or Susquehanna phase; the Dry Brook phase ; anu the

Orient phase. The material culture of the Susquehanna tradi­

tion as a 1thole is characterized by a genetically r elated

160

series of broa~ stemmed an~ semi-lozenge-shaped points and

narrow fishtail points, the major types of which are con-

sidererl .liagnostic for the various phases. The series ex-

hibits considerable internal consistency with respect to

form and clearly demonstrates the lineal ~evelopment of the

included point types.

The Susquehanna tradition apparently diffused northward

along the At lantic coast through a stemmed-point prototype

as an outgrowth of the Savannah River Stemmed point tradition ,

bringing with it as an endogenous trait the use of carved

soapstone vessels (Witthoft 195J; Ritchie 1965: 149-77),

This trait has led to the widespread use of the term

11Transitional, 11 first applied by l~itthoft (195J) in naming

these related manifest~tions, since the production of stone

containers substitutes for the laok of non-perishable vessels

in Archaic times, thereby bridgine the technological gap be-

tween the aceramic Archa i c cultures and their pottery-bearing

Woodland successors . In this sense, these earlier expressions

are truly trans i t ional, but since cultural developments

through time generally have shown comparable technological

transitions, and since the innovation of soapstone pots seems

not to have greatly modified the general life patterns of the

related peoples (Ritchie 1965:151), I would abandon this

nomenclature and simply consider these manifestations as the

late to terminal Archaic cultural expressicns in this area .

Present evidence suggests the Savannah River tradition

of the Southeas t (Clafin 19Jl; Coe 1964) as the clearest

161

\ I i

antecedent to the Susquehanna tradition cultures. Large

broad-bladed , square-stemmed points of quartzite, rhyolite,

or andesite, groo'Ved axes • and s teatite ves sels typify the

Savannah River tradition which has been r ad i ocarbon dated

to 1944 B.C. ± 250 years (M- 524) at the Gas ton site in

North Carolina (Coe 1964:97 ) •

Local variations of the Savannah River Stemmed point

in the Northeast include the Snook Kill (Ritchie 1961 :47-48)

and Koens-Crispin/Lehigh points (\vi tthoft 1953 :21-22: Kinsey

1972:J49- 52) and probably Witthoft's (1959: 82) lithic assem­

blage from t he Long site in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania.

The large corner-removed points excavated from Stratum 2 of

t he Fralinger site als o fall within the ear ly period of

Susquehanna tradition development in this area as indicated

by the radiocarbon age determination of 1880 B.C. ! 100

·years (I- 67JO) on a rela ted feature.

This date is the earliest yet reported fo r this tradi­

tion in the Northeast . Two C-14 dates are on record for

162

the Koens-Crispin/Lehigh phase in the upper Delaware Valley:

1720 B.C . ± 100 years (Y-1826) (Kinsey 1968 :246) and 1720 B.C.!

120 years (Y- 2587) (Kraft 1970:31) . In New Hampshire an

apparently related hearth produced a da te of 1670 B.C. ± 110

years (Y- 1373) (Finch 1965 :15; Dincnuze 1968 :82) while

Ritchie's (1965: 135 ) single determination for the Snook Kill

phase i n New York State indicates a date of 1470B.C . ± 100

years (Y-1170) . Thus , if standa rd deviations are cons i dered ,

the existing C-14 da tes indicate the continuous evolution of

.,

these diverse stemmed points styles over a period some1~hat

in excess of 800 years. It is suspected that as further

research is completed - especially in the Middle Atlantic

States where these points are abundant but poorly recorded -

the reality of this cultural and temporal continuum will be

verified, and presumably the entire sequence will be given

an even greater time depth.

The basic elements of these closely allied early Susque­

hanna tradition complexes comprise broad stemmed points;

thick stemmed scrapers, fashioned from projectile points;

celts, adzes and stone potsherds; plus, the early emergence

of an elaborate pattern of mortuary ceremonialism

emphasizing the practice of cremation , the ritual use of red

ochre 1 and the inclusion of often lavish grave furniture - the

basic idea for which probably originated in the earlier Archaic

cultures of the North (Tuck , n.d. ).

Perhaps the most famous example of mortuary ceremonialism

on the Bast Coast at this time level is the spectacular Koens­

Crispin cemetery near loledford, Ne1t Jersey (Hawkes and Linton

1916; Cross 1941:81-90) . Nora recently , excavations on the

nearby Savich Farm site have revealed a remarkable congeries

16J

of richly accoutered cremated burials associated with the Koens ­

Crispin point type (Regensburg 1971). Ritchie (196): 138)

records two cremations , probably referable to the Snook Kill

phase on eastern Long Island. Dincauze 1 s (1968:18-20) Mansion

Inn blades seem to be al li ~d to the Snook Kill or Koens ­

Crispin/Lehigh Broad types , and their inclusion in a mortuary

complex in eastern Massachusetts is of considerable signifi-

canoe. In ad~ ition, all of the l a ter Susquehanna tradi­

tion phases - Perkiomen, Frost Island , and Orient - parti­

cipated to varying degrees in burial r~tualism. Werner's

(1972:121) recentlydefined Dry Brook phase is the only such

manifestation tha t has failed to produce evidence of this

practice, but this laok is probably due to limited sampling .

The clear relationship between the Dry Brook phase on the

one hand and the "Coburn group" (Dincauze 1968 : 66-70) and

the Orient phase (Ritchie 1965:16J- 77) on the other inti­

mates that the discovery of a Dry Brook cremation cemetery

is only a matter of time.

Of the remaining Susquehanna tradition phases the

Perkiomen phase or complex is the leas t well known, possess­

ing by far the most circumscribed distribution. The Perkiomen

complex or its diagnostic markers - Perkiomen points, modi­

fied point scrapers and drills, chipped and polished auzes,

and bipennate spearthrower weights - are mainly restricted

to northeastern Pennsylvania and environs, where the major

components of this complex have been discovered (Kraft 1972:

10-14; Kinsey and McNett 1972 ·:159-97). Beyond this area

recorded sites are few. The Piffard site in the central

Genessee Valley of New York has produced a related interment

of cremated human remains accompanied by fifty to sixty in­

tentionally broken or "killed• Perkiomen points intermixed

with red ochre, this being the only burial a ttributable to

the Perkiomen cornplex any\¥here within its range (Ritchie

164

196.5:1.52- .53) . Perkiomen points and derived arti fac ts occur

sporad ically in New Jersey (Cr oss 1941: Pl.2b; Pl • .59a , Fig. 4) ,

and in the ~murice River area, the complex is evidenced by a

sincle example of t he Perkiomen point type from Locus I at

Union La ke .

The dating of the Perkiomen phases is unsure. All da tes

derive from the recent excavations in the To cks Island Res­

ervoir area of the upper l)elaware Valley and have a spread

of somewhat greater than two hundred year s from 1720 B. C. ±

16.5

120 years (Y-2.587 ) (Kr aft 1970:31) to 1.500 B.C. ~ 120 years

(Y- 2478) (Kinsey 1972a:l88). Intermediate dates of 1620 B.C. +

100 years (Y-2340) (Kinsey and MoNett 1972:222 ) and 1640 B.C . +

100 years (Y- 1.588) (Kraft 1970:62) were also obt ained in the

same area .

~uch better known and with a vastly greater distribution

i s the Frost Island or Susquehanna phase (Witthof t 1953:7- 16;

Ri t chie 196.5 :1.5.5- 63 ; Kinsey 1972:3.53- .5.5) , whose di agnost ics

include Susquehanna Broad points; drill s , scr apers, and

gravers , al l made from broken points; end- and side- notched

netsinke r s; oval t o rectangular , flat-bottom soaps t one pots

with straight or sloping s i des and lug handles, and usuall y

with t ooled exterior surfaces; inf requent ly , Marcey Creek

pottery; doughnut- shaped beads , gor gets , and ladles , out

from fractured steatite kettles; hammers , anvi ls and adzes .

The practice of cremation burial with inclusions of 11killet1 11

funerary offerings has been recor ded for this phase in New

York Sta te (Ritchie 196.5: 162) and fo r the 11atertown phase,

its counterpart in Massachusetts (D1ncauu 196H:4J- 66).

Ri tchie's (1965:156) da te of 1250 B.C. % 100 years

(Y- 1274) for the r rost Is l and phase at the O'Nei l site is

the only such determination for New York State as well as

the most recent or t he series for this ma nifestati on else­

where. The Susquehanna component at the Zi mmerman s ite

near Dingman ' s Ferry , Pennsy lvani a yielded a date of

166

1650 B.C. ! 80 years (Y-2344 ) (iverner 1972:116 ) while the

Wa tertown phase in eas tern Massachusetts is placed at 1520 B.C . ~

120 years (GX- 0568) (Dincauze 1968:76). These dates suggest that

Ritchie's estimate may be too modest , but the dates are, i n any

event, too infrequent to be definitive.

As alluded to above the Susquehanna point type and related

artifacts have a great geographic dispersal, primarily in the

Appa!achian piedmont, ranging from the upper Chesapeake Bay

northward through much of eastern Pennsylvania (Witthoft 1953:

7- 16; McCann 1962; Werner 1972: 116-17), southern New York

State (Ritchie 1965: 155-63) and into southern New Bngland

(Ritchie 1969:230; Dincauze 1968 :76). Their distribution in

New Jersey is not intense. Cross (1941) illustrates examples

from the Stobbe, Salisbury and Reel Valley sites . Acco rdi ng to

Charles F. Kier , Jr. (correspondence, February 7, 1971) , "The

clistribution of Susquehanna ancl Orient material is very much

scattered in southern New Jersey. There are a few areas

where they occur more frequently , mostly on sites along the

Delaware River and upper Delaware Bay , and very widely scat­

tered on sites along the coast f r om Toms Niver to Cape May."

Four s emi-lozenge-shaped points , tentatively identified

as Susquehanna Broad points, were found at Union Lake

(Locus I) as \ias a modified point scraper. Another such

point was recovered in the Indian Site Survey excavations

at the East Point site. These relics, along with a few

points scattered in private collections are the only vestiges

locally attributable to this phase in the l ower ~Iaurice River

area.

Many of the projectile points relegated to the Susquehanna

Broad category can be shown t o intergrade with the temporally

later Orient Fishtail style. This typological convergence,

envisioned by Ritchie (1959:90 ) and Dincauze (1968:25-26) in

their respective areas, explicates the genetic link between the

two forms. In Pennsylvania Werner (1972 :117-22) has recently

defined the Dry Brook phase, based upon the occurrence of these

intermediate point forms with the associated presence of fish-

tail point-derived scrapers and drills, fire making sets (flint

strikers and sulfide anvils), celts , the adze , chipped stone

picks, soapstone bowls with both smooth and tooled exteriors,

soapstone utensils and ornaments out from broken bowls, and

notcherl pebble netsinl<ers. This phase , \ihich has been radio-

carbon dated to 1280 B.C . ± 120 years (Y- 2343) at the Zimmerman

site, 1llustrates a neat transition both in chipped stone tools

and in types of soapstone bowls from the Frost Island to the

Orient phase.

The Maurice River examples of Susquehanna Broad points

and scraper just mentioned resemble the intermediate forms

I I J

..

described by Werner and may, in fact, represent a Dry Brook­

like transition. Some of the fishtail points collected at

Union Lake (Locus I) and at the Indian Head site also seem

to reflect this intermediate development and would probably

be classed as Dry Brook points by 1\erner . It follows, there­

fore that if these local specimens do , in fact, represent

transitional forms, then the pure expressions of Susquehanna

and Orient poi nts are to be found elselihere in southern New

Jersey. This argument is bolstered by the discovery at the

Indian Head and East Point sites of true Orient Fishtail

points , which are also relatively common in local surface­

derived collections. The Orient phase, first described by

Ritchie (1959; 1965:l6J-77) on eastern Lone Island, occupies

much of northeastern Pennsylvania, southern New York and

southern New England. The typical Orient inventory comprises

the following items: fishtail points of the Orient type, and

to a lesser extent il'ading River points; steatite vessels of

rounded form and with smoothed exteriors ; unpitted and faceted

hammers; atlatl weights of various f orms; axes (rare) , celts,

and adzes; ovate and triangular knives and drills made from

broken or modified points .

The Orient phase is perhaps best known for its effulgent

mortuary ritualism- involving both individual, and communal

burial in large deep pits , rich deposits of grave goods, and

the postulated observance of periodic and elaborate magica l

rites (Ritchie 1965:173-77) - since it was solely on the basis

of cemetery sites on eastern Long Island that the phase was

168

'•

first defined (Ibid:l6J). In contrast, no convincing trace

of a mortuary complex has been di scerned in the Delaware

\vater Gap area (Kinsey 1972:359-60), notwithstanding Kraft's

(1970:47-51) discoveries at the Miller Field site.

The discovery and excava tion of several occupation

sites on Long Island (Ritchie 1959:10-49; 196):166-69) and

i n the upper Delal\'are Valley (Kinsey 1972 :3.57- 61) have

elucidated some of the more mundane aspects of this culture,

particularly the subsistence economy and food preferences.

A hunt ing and ga thering bas e is apparent with demonstrable

stress on shellfish collecting on the coastal New York stations

(Ritchie 1965: 164- 65) and the presumed predominance of net

fishing in the upper Delaware Valley (Kinsey 1972:)60). Data

on settlement patterns are still wanting.

A rather clear and consistent temporal frame\o~ork has been

established for the Orient phase , both in New York and the

Tocks Island area . The C-14 dates obtained by Ritchie (1965:

164) on Long Island cover a period of 280 years , more or less.

between 104J B.C. and 76J B.C. Three dates of 1220 B.C .

! 100 years (Y-2.589) (Kraft 1970:69), 1170 B.C. ~ 120 years

(Y-2339) (Kinsey and McNett 1972:222) and 810 B.C. : 100 years

(Y-2477) (Kinsey 1972a :l90) in the upper Delaware Valley sug­

ges t the presence of Orient in nascent and mature form in this

area prior to and contemporaneous with its recorded emergence

on Long Island. Little is known about the demise of the

Orient phase throughout its range, and its cultural descendents,

such as they might be, have yet to be recognized.

..

Woodl and: Woodland cultures are characterized by the

use of pottery for containers and for smoking pipes; the in­

novation of "problematical objects" of dist inctive forms

such as birdstones and boatstones; and , a trend toward the

discovery and exploitation of cultigens, leading ultimately

to agriculture and concomi tantly , the rise of settled village

life. The tripartite divisi on of \~oodla nd into Earl y , Midd l e,

and Late periods is largely based upon technological criter i a,

i.e., chan~es in pottery, pipe, and pro j ectile point styles ,

accompanied by continually evolving and systematically re l at ed

social act i vities either demonstrable or inferable from the

archaeological record; vi z . , a progressive shift toward

"settling in" on the one band and a corresponding decline in

the practico of an elaborate mortuary ritualism on the other.

The seemingly c rand transformations evinced during the 2600

year history of \foodland development from c . 1000 B. C. -

A.D. 1600 wer e wrought gradually, by degrees , from an exist ­

ing Ar chai c paradigm and r ef lec' an evolving social and eco­

l ogi cal milieu ra ther than a wholesale cultural transmogri •

fication.

Early \~oodland: The Early \iood land is initiated in the

greater Northeast by the appearance about 1000 B.C. of two

distinct ceramic traditions, the first of which , typifi ed

by Vinette 1 pottery , appears to have arisen to the north

or northwest of our area and to have entered it via New York

State, thence spreading over the entire Atlantic Slope f r om

New England to Maryland. The distinctive conoidal, grit-

170

or crushed rock-tempered Vinette 1 vessels are distinguished

by their coiled construction anrl complete exterior and interior

cord-marking (Ritchie and MacNeish 1949:100). The use of

Vine tte 1 pottery croiscuts several cultural manifestations

throughout its range during a span of c. six hundred years

f rom 1000 B.C. - 400 B.C. (Ritchie 1969:85-86).

The second ceramic tradition originates in the Chesapeake

Bay region, also about 1000 B. C. (cr. Gardner and McNett 1971:

43), with the introduction of flat - bottom, steatite-tempered

~larcey Creek vessels, which, as has long been known, represent

ceramic copies of soapstone kettles (Holmes 1903:157; Hawkes

and Linton 1916:77; Manson 1948:225)• The Marcey Creek Plain

type, also known as Koens-Crispin Plain (McCann 1950:316), is

but one of many related styles of Early Woodland flat-bottom

pottery in the Mid -Atlantic region. The Seldon Island cord­

marked (Smith 1971:41), \~are Plain (McCann 1950:316), and

Heislerville Corded (pp. 74-78 ) pottery represent localized

variations in temper and exterior surface treatment of the

Marcey Creek model.

Marcey Creek Plain and cognate wares enjoy an expansive

distribution emanating from the Chesapeake Bay heartland.

They occur commonly in central and southern New Jersey {Cross

1941:60,65 , 88 ; McCann 1950 ; Kier and Calverly 1957:86-88),

north to no rtheastern Pennsylvania (McCann 1962:53-55),

northwestern New Jersey (Kraft 1970:116- 17) and into coastal

New York (Smith 1950:135-36, 165; Lopez 1957:25-26).

In the Middle Atlantic States the Vinetto 1 and ~larc ey

171

..

Creek ceramic traditions apparently merged some time after

1000 a. c., resulting ·~• number of hybrid combinations such

as the flat-bottom, shell-tempered and interior/ exterior

cord-marked Cadwalader Corded ware or Modified Vinette (Lopez

19.57:2.5) to cite but two examples. Looking further af ield,

the rise of such types as Half Moon Cord-Marked (Fetzer and

Nayer-Oakes 19.51:18-20), Fayette Thick (\i'ebb and Baby 19.57:

20), the Juniata Thick series (Huner, et.al. 1967:468-70) ,

and others as summarized in Table J may be directly related

to this merger. This assumption cannot be adequately assessed

at this time and might be proper!y tne ObJect of furtner in­

quiry.

In the coastal zone of t he Middle Atlantic region the

as yet dimly perceived evolution of ceramic series seems to

emanate from the M~rcey Creek - Vinette 1 amaleamation as

noted above, and then to proceed into the transtitional devel­

opment of more or less unspecialized conoidal vessels. Some

refinement in form, consisting of rounding tho body and

slight constriction of the neck, occurs in later stages of

development, but the culture-specific elaborations in form

and decoration t hat characterize the later cultures in t he

piedmontare generally not in evidence on the coastal plain.

Kinsey (1972:360-61) advances the hypothesis that the

ultimate source of the cord-marked ceramic s eries in the

Northeast might lie solely with the Marcey Creek tradition

rather than with Vinette 1 or a lolarcey Creek • Vinette 1

fusion. Kinsey's rather unconvincing argument is based upon

stratigraphic evidence from the Faucett site where Exterior

172

17J

-TABLE 3-

CO:IPARISON OF EARLY HOODIAt·.:O C'ffiA'·IIC TYP~

TF,?!P~R HFG Slffi1•'AC:B FOR!-1

~ 0

EXT. INT. 0 J.< Q)"' Q)

Q) t: t: bC (1)..-1 *''PO CIS c t•

~~ .... Q).., (f.) .... c 'ti.C "'.C

POTTERY TYPES +).CUI"- ..... ......... Q)+) Q)+) V)

a!UIGl-t> ..... Q) ..... "00 '00 .., 0 (/) ..... Ql::IE·r!Cll "'.,.l "' 0 "' 0 n!CtiOQl +)J.; .-l J...C 0 0 o E o E ..... O::IQl (f)(.)...:lt:)(f.) ~t.) l)(f.) (.)(f.) rz.,o...:~::

Marcey Cree~ Plain + - - - - + - - + - + + - + +

Seldon Island + - - - - + - + - - + + ? + +

Fayette Thick - +- + - + - - + - + + - + ?

Half J.loon Cordmarked - + + - - + - + - + + + - + ?

Bare Island Cord:rarked + - - - - ? ? + - + - ? ? ? ?

Vinette 1 - + - - - - + + - + - - + - -

Hodified Vinette - + ? ? ? - + +- + + + + + ?

Cadlfalader Cordc>d - - - - + + + + - + - + ? ? ?

Heislerville Corded - + - - - - + + - - + ? ? ? ?

1t/are Plain - + +- - + - - + - + + - + +

HcKees Rocks Plain - + - - - + - - + - + + - - -

Juniata Thick Corded - - + - - - + + - + - ? ? - -

Juniata Thick S:n:>oth - - + - - - + + - - + ? ? - -

Juniata Thick Plain - - + - - - + - + - + ? ? - -

This table is intended to indicate the presence (+) or absence ( - ) of specific traits common among Early Hoodland ceral!lics . The chart sho;rs how certain attributes of te"nper, manufacture, surface treat-!!ICnt, and for;~~ have been reco:nbined in various related Early 1-lood-land pottery types .

'

174

Corded/ Interior Smoothed pottery was found to occur some-

what deeper than Vinet t e 1. From this exieuous data Kins ey

postulates an hypothetical genetic sequence of pottery t ypes

beginning with Mar cey Creek Plain and terminating with Vinette

1 and later types. His conjectural sequence is as fo l lows:

\

Stony Creek Cord-Marked I Marcey Creek Plain -. Marcey Creek Corded ~

Seldon Is land Cord-Marked

Exterior Corded/Interior Smoo t hed ...,.Vinette 1-Later types

This reconstruction en joys no documented chronol ogical or tech-

nological basis . The int ermediate types in the s eries remain,

f or the most part, undated either by C-14 or by stratigraphic

methods, and the one dated type - Exterior Corded/Interior

Smoothed - fal ls well within the es tablished time span fo r

Vi nette 1 (Ki nsey 1972 :45S) . Mo reover, since both Marcey

Creek Plain and Vinette 1 have been acco rded nearly simultaneous

appearAnce about 1000 B.C. as determined by radi ocarbon ana l ysis ,

it is hard to i magine how either f orm could have given rise to

the other. The totally different vessel forms of Nar cey Creek

Plain and Vinette 1 wares also strongly indicate diverse his-

torical origins and developments . It seems l i kely that the

positi on of Vinette 1 in the Faucett s ite s equence repres ents

a survival, postdating the appearance of the Exterior Corded/

Interior Smoothed pottery.

In the lower PAurice River dr ainage the early development

of cerami cs can bo traced to a Mar cey Creek - Vinette 1

coalescence at the Cadwalader and Cadwalader Annox sitos

175

where our excavations have allowed the definition of the

Cadwalader complex, the first clear expression of an Early

iioodland culture in southern New Jersey , and , indeed , in

much of the Midd le Atlan tic region. The Cadwalader complex

as established by our Naurice River data comprises the fo l-

lowing diagnostic traits: Cadwalader Corded and Heislerville

Cor ded pottery, s i de-notched points, hoe-shaped choppers and

scr aper s, the triangular end scraper, utilized flakes , and

scrapers fashioned from fragmentary valves of the ha rd shell

clam. In the rough and ground stone categories are notched

netsinkers , pebble whetstones, the hammer or abrading stone,

and the pr obable use of the grooved axe. From bone and

antler were manufactured awls , needles, spatulas, flaking

batons , and conical projectile points.

The subsistence of the Cadwalader people was closely

linked to the exploitation of the river, bay , and forest ,

Oysters formed a dietary staple as evidenced by the abundance

of discarded valves and the presence of a probable earth oven

at the Cadwalader site. Dee r , turtles, and other creatures

were also heavily relied upon . Fish, as noted earlied,

seem to have been of relatively mi nor importance. Dogs were

known, if only as camp scavengers, and may have been ··hunting \ I

I companions though not accorded special post-mortem treatment !

as witnessed by the presence of at least one doe in the

mi dden deposit at the Cadwalader site.

.. No evidence of shelter or of palpably associated human

burial survived , and the testimony to the possible use of

fire-, storage", and refuse pits at East Point during the

Early lt'ooc\ land times is largely conjectural. The social

organization probably stressed mobility and t he seasonal

exploitation of t he resources of the forest, river and bay.

A single radiocarbon assay on a refuse bone sample

from the Cadwalader site yielded the unsatisfactory rlate

of 940 A.D. ~ 95 years (I-67)1). As noted before this

determination, l'lhich postdates the estimated appearance of

the Cadwalader complex by some 1700 years, cannot be assigned

to a later occupation, and the magnitude of the error elimi­

nates the possibility of invoking conservative technologica l

lag as a plausible explanation . Just how this discrepancy is

to be resolved remains to be seen.

The Caclwabder complex embodies a cultural tradition -

.still unnamod and only i mperfectly outlined " incorporating

technological and adaptive elements , but in t he absence of

similarly defined complexes elsewher e in the Mid-.~tlantic

region about this time, the possibility of designat ing a

discrete Cadwalader phase cannot be presently advanced .

The derivation or origin of some of the Cadwalader

complex traits, especially the side"notched points, remains

some1~n t eniematic . Points of this general style have been

consistently recovered tbrou~hout the Northeast as minority

forms from what are essentially Early lt'oodland contexts,

though not always so designa ted. They have been recorded a t

the Keens-Crispin site, near Medford, Nel~ Jersey (Hawkes ann

176

Linton 1916:77) and ~t v~rious other New Jers ey sites (Cross

1941). They also occur in Early \food land rookshtl t ers in

south- central Pennsylvani~ (Kinsey 1958 :3) and northeastern

~est Virginia (Dragoo 1959:147-87). In all these instances

the associations of the »generalized side-notched points"

have been '"i th sherds of Narc!y Cruk- or Vinet te l·like

pottery. The points seem to en joy an Archai c ancestry as

a minority type in the Bare Island complex (Kinsey 1959:129)

of the lower Susquehanna Valley as well as in the Late Archaic

Sylvan Sid e-Notched type of the Hudson Valley (Ritchie, per­

sona 1 communica tion ) and the possibly related Macpherson points

f rom the Delaware l{a ter Gap area (Kinsey 1972:411-12). It

177

seems not unlikely that the type , if it may be considered as

such, survived into ~Iiddle !loodland t i mes along with the associ­

ated use of Vinette 1 pottery as evinced in the Bushkill com­

plex of the upper Delaware Valley (Kinsey 1972:)64-69 ; and,

personal conununi cation) and also at the Pratt and Peterson

s ites on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts , wher e the most

recent date for the r elated occupation is thought to be 520 B.C .

: 120 years (Y-15)1) (Ritchie 1969: 85)· Presently, the deriva­

tion of the Cadwalader side-notohed points from an expanding­

stemmed variety of the Bare Is land type , such as the · Claeett

style (Stephenson and Ferguson 196J:l42-4J) seems the simplest

and most acceptable explanation pending final resolution of

the pa tent chronolo ~ical and cultural conf usion surrounding

the origin of these rather nondescript points.

·.

178

What other elements may in time be added to the trait

list for the Cadwalader complex also remains uncertain. It

is possible that Rossville points, for example, may be r~-

lated to this manifestation althoughthis does not presently

stem to be the case. In the event that such an attribution

could be effected then the link between the Cadwalader complex

and the Lagoon (Ritchie 1969:224-25 ) and the Bushkill complexes

(Kinsey 1972:)64-69) will have been strengthened.

The clear- cut expressions of other Early \1oodland cultures

in the Midd le Atlantic States are few, the explications of most

presumed Early \l'oodland components being clouded by the lac!< of

stratigraphy and/or unsatisfactory field procedure (Schmitt

1952:60; Cross 1956:174- 79; Stephenson and Ferguson 196):179-

85 ), One of the better known manifestations, doubtless owing

to its exotic and spectacular nature, is the Middlesex phase

of the Adena tradition which is recorded on the East Coast

from ~laryland to New England (Ritchie and Dragoo 1960; Thomas

1970 ). The Ad ena presence on the .1\tlantio shore - hallmarked

by the discovery of distinctive Adena points, leaf-shaped blades

of exotic flints, blocked-end tubular pipes, stone gorgets of

a varie t y of shapes, and various copper r,orgets and beads -

poses several weighty problems beyond the scopa of this report.

The intention here is to add some heretofore unrecorded infor-

mation to the literature concernin~ t he distribution of Adena

or related mani f estations in the southern New Jersey area.

A small supposed ~fidd lesex cemetery lias dug out of a

sandy knoll along the south shore of the Jreat Egg Harbor Bay,

near Beesley' s Point, New Jersey by Robert l~erry of· Vineland ,

\ i

I

'•

179

New Jersey in 19)8-J9. The site 1~as mentioned by Cross

(1941:228) , but the significance or identity of the 24

burials and the associated artifacts including blocked-

end tubes of Ohio fireclay , numerous rolled copper beads ,

cache blades of exotic stone , and pottery , was either over-

looked or disregarded at the t i me (Kier, personal communica-

tion). Since its di scovery the site has been obliterated

by house construction , and the collection from it has been

broken into several private holdings . Unhappily , the secrets

of this rare and important site have, it seems , been irrevo-

cably lost.

Another evidently related feature was unearthed many years

ago near Port Elizabeth, New Jersey. Herbert w. Vanaman, of

Port Elizabeth, reported in conversation the discovery in 1927

of a cache of 84 leaf- shaped blades of Flint Ridge, Ohio chal-

cedony near his home in what ~~as then a wooded lot about 200

yards east of the Maurice River (Plate 44). The blades - lthich

I would class as Robbins blades (Cf. Dragoo 1963:180) - had

been carefully set on edge in two concentric circl es and buried

at a depth of c . two feet . No other objects were found in the

cache , but ~~ . Vanaman has in his possession a number of locally

collected Adena or Robbins blades of like material. A few other

Adena points have turned up in local collections , but the orig-

inal contexts or circumstances of discovery of these relics are

obscure.

Much better documented is the famous and very important

Rosenkrans Ferry site in Sussex County , New Jersey where a

spectacular Middlesex cemetery harbored lJ flexed , secondary,

180

- PLHE 44 -

CACHE OF ROBBINS BL40ES IN SI TU ON

PROPERTY OF HERBERT il' , VANAMAN , 1927 .

(Courtesy of Herbert \i . Vanaman)

·.

and cremated burials. Associated ~rave offerin~s included

blocked- end tubes; laree stemmed and side- notched points of

Onondaga chert; slate gorgets; pendants; minera l cones;

numerous beads, an awl , a celt, and a boatstone, all of cop­

per; Marginella and cylindrical shell beads; plaited fabric;

red ochre; and , Vinette 1 pottery (Carpenter 1950:299- JOJ;

Ritchie and Dragoo 1960:60 , 72- 80 , FiBS· 1, 2), Ritchie

(1965:20J} obtained the only radiocarbon date for this site

from charcoal exhumed from an in situ cremation. This date

at 610 B.C. 1 120 years (Y- 1J84) is somewhat earlier than

the few rleterminations available from related sites in Nary ­

lanrl anrl Delaware l>'hich range from J60 B. C. to 1\ . D. J20 if

the standard deviations are disret~arded (Kinsey 1972:J95) .

Also sugeestive of Early ~oorlland connections are a

number of s tone and ceramic tubular, ciJar- shaped , and obtuse­

angle smoking pipes from the ~lAurice Hiver drainage and nearby

areas of Cumberland County (Philhower 19J4:8- 14). As is often

the case with surface-derived antiquities the provenience and

context of these pipes has not been precisely noted , and while

admitting t heir lack of diagnostic value , they would seem to

sie nal some connection, if only t emporal, with the Early 1\'ood­

land Meadowood and/or Midrllesex phases (Ritchie 1965:19),204)

of New Yor k State or the ~Iidd le il'oocl land Kipp Island phase in

the same state (lbic1 :228 ).

Middle \ioocl land : The quest f or Mi ddle :roodland materia l

in the Naurice River tidewater a rea has not been t<fell r ewarded.

The inability to identify Middle Woodland components here

181

.,

arises in part f rom the genera l absence in this area of

the hi ghly distinctive and diagnostic "Hopewelli an " derived

zoned ceramics which probably reached their most eff ulgen t

expression on the East Coast at the Abbo tt Far m (Cross 1956:

144- 48 ). There are no r ecorded i nstances of the occurrence

in the Maurice River drainage of s uch t ypes as Abbott loned

Incised or Abbott Zoned Dentate although a small elaborately

stamped or incised globular vess el from the Indian Head site ,

now in the George Woodruff collection (Fieure 1 ), hints of

a Middle Woodland origi n as do a fragmentary platform pipe

from this site and another f rom the Horseshoe Bend site along

Minantico Creek. The infrequent discovery here of platform

pipes as well as the sparse occurrence of Jack ' s Reef Corner­

Notched and Pentagona l points (Cf . Ritchie 1961:26- 28) sug­

~ests an affinity to tho Ki pp I sland phase of New York State

(Ritchie 196.5:2J2-5J) whose ~Iiddle Atlantic counterpart, the

·,vebb phase (Thomas and lvarren 1970) has b0en isolated at the

Island Field site near South Bowers, Delaware, less than 20

miles across the Delaware Bay from the mouth of the Maurice

River. At any rate, such expressions are rare and constitute

inferent ial rather t han conclusive evidence of a Middle Wood ­

land presence here .

The net-impressed ceramics which char acter ize many ~~ddle

lvood 1and horizons along the Atlantic seaboard from the Chesa ­

peake Bay to southern New York State (Smith 19.50:196; &vans

19.5.5:4J; Cross 19.56:139- 40; Stephenson and Ferguson 196J:l07-

08; Funk 1968; Ka eser 1968 : Kins ey 1972:4.5.5- .56) s eem to have

182

played a negl i gible role in the ceramic development of

southern Ne1,r Jersey . The near deart h of net- impressed ware

in the Maurice River tidewater area is a little puztling but

correlates we l l with the observed paucity of Fox Creek and

other Middle \food land point types (Hitchie 1961:.51- .52; Funk

1968).

t;hile t he bulk of the ceramic assemblages from the large

pottery producing stations such as Indian Head and Horseshoe

Bend can be awkwardly grouped into the pre- existing Early and

Late Woodland types , a l arge portion falls into an i ntermedi­

ate position 11'1 th respect to size and kinds of temper , surface

treatment and form, and to some extent , acco rding to less

tangible parameters , such as degree of refinement or technical

expertise. It is precisely in this taxonomic abyss that

much of the Midd le Woodland pottery of s outhern New Jersey i s

apparently hidden. In the absence of hard and fast associa -

tions and in dea ling lvith fragmentar y, undecorated sherds the

archaeologist is often hard put to distinguish one type from

another . TI1e conservative adherence to familiar forms and

medi a is so confusiong that pottery alone is often an insu.'fi ­

cient criterion for making the finer dis tinctions between

related cultural complexes , even on the local level . It is

therefore desirable to know, or to seek t o know , t he other

associated elements of culturally determined congeries so

that disti nct composites rather than isolated trai ts can be

compared . It is in light of t his desideratum that more rig­

i dly controlled stratigraphic wor k is urgently needed .

18J

Late ifoodland : The Late lfoodland in t he Maurice River

area is somewhat better known as a result of our excavations

on the stratified Fralinger site where a discrete assemblage

of late prehistoric-to-contact relics were collected . Based

on the excavation of Stratum 1 at the Fralinge r site the fol­

lowing ehments are considend as diagnostic of the Late Wood­

land Fralinger complex: Ri~~ins Fabric-Impressed and Plain,

Union Lake Corded , and Fralinger Corded pottery; ceramic

smoking pipes of two styles- probably of the elbow- or obtuse­

angle types-; triangular points; trianeular end- and ovate

side scrapers ; utilized flakes; whetstones; the graphite

paintstone; and a few associated historic objects - a plain

button and various unidentified scraps of iron and copper -

undoubtedly r,rafted onto the complex shortl y before its ex­

tirpation.

The clear association of historic and aboriginal arti­

facts sugeests the late survival of the Indian population in

this area, also documented by NcCann (19.57) , probably until

the late 17th or early 18th centuries.

184

Data on the subsistence economy of t he Fralinger people

are meager, being limited to the di scovery of a f ew hickory

nuts, scattered mollusc shells, and refuse bone throughout

Stratum 1 and by inference from the presence of small tri­

angular projectile points . ~o evidence of horticulture was

discovered , but it is likely that plan t domestication or cul ­

tivation was practiced at least on a modest scale by this time.

Housing and settlement patterns await elucidation. Pres­

ently the only intimation of housing st~ms from the discovery

of a possible tra mpled living fl~or in Stratu~ l A. The

occurrence of house patterns and/or palisaded villages have

novor bun documented in southern New Jersey, owing mo.re to

tho loose, sandy nature of t he soil and to modern disturbances

than to the absence of structures in Late l~oodland times.

The inclusion of four distinct pottery types within tbe

Fralinger complex augurs for its ultimate subdivision into a

nu1nber of phases built around those pottery types. The mort

18.5

or less isolated appearance of Riggins Fabric-Impressed ceramics

in the humus at the Cadwalader Annex sito, on surface sites in

this drainage, and elsewhere in southern New J ersey indicates

that the Riggins ware will one day be established as the nucleus

of ono such phase. The same can be said for the Fralinger

Corded and Union Lake Corded pottery types, but t he intricacies

of thoirancestry must first be unraveled .

It seems likely that all of these ceramic wares will ul­

timately be traced back into Middle Woodland times. A brief

examination of the Riggins Fabric-Impressed vessels in the

George Woodruff collection reveals a greater variation in form

and decoration than would be expected in what is ordinarily

regarded as a contemporaneous series (Fi6ure 1). Vessel form

varies from conoidal to globular. Many of the vessels re-

semble those of the Point Peninsula or early Owas co series of

New York State (Ritchie and }!acNe i sh 1949) , whil e the decora-

tion exhibits considerable diff ftrentiation both in moti f and

technique, rangint! from the characteristi c Late l~ooctland single

cord impression or simple linear incising (Figure .l, No. 1 , 4-7)~

186

- FIGURE 1 -

VARI BTI BS OF RIGGI NS FABRI C-UlPHESSEJ> POTfliRY

co

("') ~

Ill ~ Q)

.c u

11) c

It c

.... Q)

0 fol u

V)

(\J 0 <D

·.

elaborate zoned or filled geometric patterns, often covering

half to three quarters of the body (Figure 1, No. 2- J, 8).

Such motifs and their careful execution, while infrequent,

are reminiscent of the refined Middle Woodla nd 11 Hopewellian"

pottery already allu~ed to (Cross 1956:144- 47)• The pre­

cursors of the Fralinger Corded and Union Lake Corded types

are even more obscure owing to their extreme functional and

mundane appearance. As work progresses and the ceramic se ­

quence in this area is given fuller exigesis, the derivation

of these types from earlier wares should be amply borne out,

At this time the closest affinities of the Fralinger

complex and allied manifestations in southern New Jersey

seem to lie with the cultures along the Atlantic coast from

the Chesapeake Bay to New England. It is not surprising to

finrl the greatest correlation with those areas that ~re most

well known archaeologically, i . e., coastal New York and New

England, even though equally as strong or stronger ties

might be expected with the Late l~oodland cultures of the

Delmarva peninsula or around the shores of Chesapeake Bay.

To the north, some connection with the Sebonac, Bowmans

Brook , or Clasons Point phases in New York State (Ritchie 1965:

265- 71; Smith 1950:120- 2), lJJ-34) is suspected as well as

'"i th Ritchie 1 s ( 1969:227-28) nameless Late \ioodland phases in

Massachusetts. Likewise, relationships with the few, poorly

understood, Late Wo od land cultures of the Mid -A tl~ntic region

(Omwake and Stewart 1963; Stephenson and Ferguson 196) :190- 98)

are apparent though not susceptible to in-depth analysis.

187

Unfortunately, it must be noted that our slender data are

insufficient to permit of any but the vaguest demonstration

of parallel development over this vast area, anrl considerable

critical research will be needed to clarify the rather nebulous

affiliations already perceived.

In New Jersey and the ~Iiddle Atlantic States generally,

fuller explication of the prehistoric cultural developments ,

the relationship between aboriginal eroups, and the relative

chronology will depend upon the di scovery and careful explora­

tion of single-component and/or stratified sites, either small

coastal stations as at East Point or deep alluvial sites above

the fall line of the major rivers (Cf. Coe 1964:9- lJ) .

It can be seen that throughout time the far-flung networks

of travel, trade, and communication in our area l>'ere based upon

the n~tural watercourses, both paralleling the ocean behind

barrier beaches and penetrating the upland regions to the north

and tiest . The valleys of the Hudson, Delaware and Susquehanna

Rivers alona with the intercoastal waterways served as north­

south diffus ion routes while movement across the Appalachian

range was facilitated by the dissection of the biJhlands by

the headltaters of the Susquehanna , Potomac and James Ri vers.

Along the 31.5 mile stretch betlteen Roanoke , Virginia and

Coudersport , Pennsylvania these rivers transect the Appalachian

ridge at no fewer than seven loci, from which easy access to

the Ohio cl raina ~~e, and hence points beyond , can be ~ainetJ . It

is at these spots and alon~ these rivers that traces of cul-

188

tural continuities through time may be expected to occur,

anrt it is in these areas that systematic investiGations for

stratified sites and closed components should be begun.

Correlation of arch~eological and ethnohistorically

189

known groups in southern Net.,r Jersey is a desi rable goal but,

unfortunately, one that has been fraught wi th considerable

difficulties. All efforts to this end have been rewarded with

only partial success (Skinner 1909; ~eslader 1954; Newcomb 1956;

McCann 1957; Dunlap and Weslager 1958) primarily because the

early 17th century source material is sketchy or conflictine.

There was little agreement among the early chroniclers and

cartographers - Evelyn, Lindestrom. Vingboons • and Van Der

Donck - as to the placement of the various small. dispersed

;:tntl laq~ely autonomous Oelatvaran ;~roups tvho tl'ere • in any case •

~eo~raphically and socially tlislocated shortly after the advent

of European colonization (Newcomb 1956:5-9). Nor are any un­

equivocally documented historic Delaware villa5es known in

this area (~lcCann 1957:1). Thus , for these reasons • and unless

new, reliable data can be brought to bear. any further attempt

to effect such a correl ation seems at the outset to be doomed

to failure .

190

- FI:ZURK 2 -

TENTATIVE CULTURAL SEQUENCE AND CHRONOLOGY

MAURICE R I V Z R T I D E W A T E R ARE A

TENTATIVE CULTURAL SEQUENCE AND CHRONOLOGY

CULTURE COMPONENTS TECHNOLOGICAL TRADITIONS

Indian Head 1600 I

Union Lake 1-IV

\J Cll Fralinger I ~ tll (Stratum 1) ..l

& Triangular Cad1.,alader .Annex Conoidal Pots I

Points

Indian Head (?) 500 Cll .-!

Horseshoe Bend (?) ?

'0 ~ '0

~I\) :d B.C • ... A

I z Marcey Creek I < Indian Head

Vinette Fusion a ..l :; Cadwalader Orient A ... Cadwalader Annex 1000 ~ Dry Brook 1'0 East Point 0 Ill

@ 0 Susquehanna :3: -\S 4P Perkiom.en

I

~ Lehigh Soapstone Pots I

Indian Read Bare Island, ~ Union Lake I-IV

Fralinger Etc. Cll (Stratum 2) ~ I tll Cadwalader Annex ..l

~ East Point 3000 Vosburg

I ?

4000 I u Otter Cr. @

~4 H Q) Indian Head I ~ Union Lake I & IV < '0 Morrow Mt. I-II '0

II: E 5000 I u

~ ~ Stanly <

I Kanawha ~ 6000 Le Croy ~

>. I .-! Indian Head ... Kirk ~ <0

Iii

7000

..

CONCLUSIONS

The Maurice River tidewater area has yielded abundant

evidence of an apparently lon~ ami complex prehistory, The

di scovery of several distinctive classes of artifacts indi­

cated that the cultural development in this area could be

tr~ced through a progression of distinct phases or compl exes

that could be isolated both in culture and chronolOJY • By

concentratinJ on closed or stratified components it was hopeu

that such definition could be, at l east partially, attained.

In fact our excavations at the Fralinger, Cad\"alader and

Cadwalader Annex sites allow for the first time the segr e­

~ation of several discre te assemblages and the definition of

two hitherto unrecognized cultural complexes. In particular,

the delineation of the Late :voodland Fralinr,er complex, the

Early lioodland Cadualader complex and an early Susquehanna

t radition component in Stratum 2 a t the Fralinger site pro­

vides the first hint of or~er in the ch~otic state of pre­

history of southern New Jersey.

These units, ,.,.hile only imperfectly uefined , provide the

bas i c structure for the cultural sequence ~ n~ chronology here

as it is presently understood. In the absence of ot he r reli ­

able data fro m strat i fied contexts the gaps in this schedule

are filled by comparison with documented re ~ional sequences

elsewhere. The resultingcomposite mirrors with reason::~ble

accuracy , thou~h not inviolably , t he cultural succession in

this ~re~ beginning at le~s t several millenia before the

191

·.

Christian era. The culturCll sequence as current l y pictured

is illustraterl in Fi gure 2,

Paleo-Inciian, Early to ~lidcile Ar chaic , anct Midd le :rood­

land manifestations are very dimly pe r ceiverl , but exceptine

these, the envisioned pro~ressi on is essentially complete

and adequately •cc ounts for the rl:lta at h;~nrl . ;~hile t he

scheme is far from i deal, it is nonetheless defensible in

its present form. It is expected that the sequence will be

modified to accomodate new data as they are brou~t to li Jht.

The cultural sequence and chronolo .~y in the lower Maurice

River draina 1e shows a clear and cons i stent parallelism with

respect to the reoo~nizable events in the prehistory of the

adjacent ~eographical areas. Indeed the whole Middle Atlantic

seaboard from North Carolina to New En,.;land seems to have func­

tionecl as an abori ·:inal culture province (Cf . Stephenso:-t and

Fer~uson 1963:200- 205). Apparently both internal development

and forei •:n influence are responsible f or the perceivable

archaeological remains.

The relatively rapid transmission of ideas a nd artifacts

and the possible movement of people within this vast reJ ion ,

as \iell as to and from points beyond, was facili tatetl by the

strate .tic location of t he several waterways that penetrate

the i nterior hi -~hlands . This ~eographical peculiarity

coupled with generally similar ecolo~ical conditions explains

the re~ional appearance of distinctive cultural horizons at

specific and relatively restricte~ time levels.

'fuile the existence of a coastal culture as a discrete

192

entity has been effectively deni ed (Ritchi e l 969 :2JJ) 1 the

~boriginal cultures on the coastal plain clearly bear the

stamp of provincialism. This is especially evident on the

hter WoocUand sites in the Dela1~:~ re Bay regi on where 1 for

example , the development of cerami c technology bespeaks a

remar kable cultural stability and continuity . The lower

Delaware Valley , was, as ~ruber (correspondence , Februa r y 17 1

1971) affirms , "a kind of a backwash area where conservatism

per sisted long after the time described by i ts typology".

This investigation has r esolved some of the lon:; stand­

ing problems i n southern New Jersey archaeology . !nevi tably 1

others coul d not be unraveled . The need to define many

t r ad itions and their included phases remains as a prima ry

research objective and additional accuracy in the re~ional

correlation of specific phases or complexes is ~reatly to

be desired .

The chronolot~Y has proven throu1~ht to be a \teak point

in the analys i s . Our success in dat ing the Susquehanna tra­

dition component in Stra tum 2 at the Fralin~e r site i s off­

set by the inexplicable and excessive discrepancy in deter­

mining the a r,e of the Early \ioodland Cadwalader complex .

This failure is the source of much disappointment and con­

sternation. It is apparent t hat the present r elative chronol­

ogy must be replaced by a sound r adiocarbon-based framework ,

but this unconsummated task will require considerable criti­

cal work in the future .

19J

tl'ith the exception of the cadwalader material, dat a

directly relating to subsistence patterns and ecological

adaptation are sadly lacking . Also, evidence re~arding

housin~ , villa~e structure and settlement patterns are vir­

tually nonexistent. Burial customs, trade and travel, so­

cial organization and the relationship between archaeo log­

ical cultures and ethnohistorioally described groups in this

area await elucidation. In short nearly all of the non­

material characteristics of the sundry occupants of the

area are beyond the pale of our present understanding .

These and the various specif i c problems already alluded to

in the text would bear additional careful examination.

Thus , it might be legitimately argued that the value of

this study lies not so much in its modest contribution to

knowled~e as in its clarification of what we have yet to

learn.

194

Abbott, 1872

Barber, 1861

Blaker, 196J

Brennan , 1967

Broyles, 1966

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